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T^IBRARY 

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University  of  California. 

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THE    CHKISTIAN    GRACES, 


' , 


^A.UcJ^^ 


THE 


CHRISTIAN  GEACES. 


A  SERIES  OF  LECTURES 


ON 


2  Peter    i.   5-12. 


BY  JOSEPH  P.  THOMPSON, 

PASTOR  OF  THE  BROADWAY  TABERNACLE  CHURCH. 


New   York  : 
Sheldon  &  Company,  115  Nassau  St. 

Boston:    Gould  &  Lincoln. 
1859. 


S^¥f3 


Entered  according  to  Act  ol'  Congress,  in  the  year  1859,  by 

SHELDON   &    COMPANY, 

fa  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District 
of  New  York. 


W.  H.  TiKsoN,  Stereotypes  Pudnbt  &  Russkll,  Printers. 


TO  THE  BROADWAY  TABERNACLE  CHURCH. 


Dear  Brethren  in  Christ  : 

It  is  at  your  suggestion  that  I  now  commit 
to  the  Press  a  course  of  Lectures  prepared  with 
sole  reference  to  your  spiritual  improvement.  In  so 
doing,  I  am  influenced  by  two  considerations  :  the 
time  of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord, 
which  we  have  recently  enjoyed,  has  brought  into 
the  church  many  new  converts,  who  require  to  be 
instructed  and  encouraged  in  the  particular  graces 
of  the  Christian  character ;  and  the  same  work  of 
grace  should  manifest  its  fruits  in  a  higher  Christian 
culture  attained  by  every  member  of  the  church. 
If  these  specific  and  famihar  counsels  which  gained 
your  attention  when  spoken  from  the  pulpit,  can  con- 
tribute at  all  to  such  a  culture  among  you,  I  shall 
be  thankful  for  the  privilege  of  thus  repeatmg  them 
in  your  family  circles,  and  in  the  nearer  intercourse 


VI  PEEFACE. 

of  the  closet  ;  "  endeavoring  that  ye  may  be  able 
after  my  decease  to  have  these  things  always  in 
remembrance." 

Moreover,  these  Lectures  may  serve  as  a  memento  . 
of  the  delightful  Sabbath  services  in  our  chapel,, 
where  a  compact  and  sympathetic  assembly  has 
encouraged  the  most  direct  and  earnest  utterances 
of  the  pulpit.  Yet  I  am  sure,  that  separated  from 
the  circumstances  in  which  they  were  prepared  and 
delivered,  these  Lectures  will  quite  disappoint  you. 
The  mind  crowded  with  present  labors  does  not 
easily  recall  thoughts  and  expressions  uttered  in  the 
fervor  of  moments  which  are  passed  ;  and,  therefore, 
the  unwritten  illustrations  and  exhortations  which 
belonged  to  these  Lectures  in  their  oral  delivery,  may 
not  reappear  upon  the  printed  page.  I  have  endea- 
vored, however,  to  reproduce  with  all  fidehty,  that 
which  your  too.  favorable  judgment  has  in  the  main 
approved. 

The  date  of  this  letter  reminds  me  that  I  have 
entered  upon  the  fifteenth  year  of  my  ministry  among 
you.  Of  all  the 'years  of  this  pastorate — ^blessed  as 
many  of  these  have  been  with  tokens  of  divine 
mercy — ^there  has  been  none  more  pleasant  or  more 
fruitful  than  that  just  closed,  in  which  we  have  met 


PEEFACE.  Vll 

as  one  family  for  the  devout  and  practical  study  of 
the  Word  of  God.  But  the  years  that  are  before 
us,  will  bring  upon  us  as  a  church  wider  labors  and 
Mgher  responsibilities.  Wherefore,  beloved,  "  build- 
uig  up  yourselves  on  your  most  holy  faith,  praying 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  keep  yourselves  in  the  love  of 
God,  looking  for  the  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
unto  eternal  life."  That  He  who  hath  called  you  to 
his  kingdom  of  glory,  may  "make  you  perfect  in 
every  good  work  to  do  His  will,"  is  the  prayer  of 

Your  grateful  and 

Affectionate  Pastor. 
April  15th,  1859. 


ftfBriVBESITT! 


CONTEJN^TS 


LECTURE  I. 

PAGK 

Virtue, 13 

The  Terra  defined  as  Energy,  Manhood,  .         .13 

The  Constituents  of  this  Manhood,         .         .        .22 
Its  Place  in  a  Complete  Character — ^Washington, 

Savonarola, 34 

How  to  cultivate  this  Virtue 39 


LECTURE  IL 


Knowledge, 


"Gnosis"  defined. 
Analysis  of  Christian  Knowledge, 
How  Knowledge  is  attained,  . 
The  Results  of  this  Knowledge, 


45 

45 
51 
60 
67 


LECTURE  IIL 

Temperance, 78 

Defined  as  Self-Control, 73 

What  this  Implies, 76 

How  to  Attain  Self-Government,    .        .        .        .88 

Motives  to  this  End, 96 

ix 


X                                         CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  IV. 

pAaa 

Patience, 

.     102 

The  Elements  of  Patience,    .... 

.     105 

Christ  and  Prometheus,         .... 

.     106 

Washington  at  Yalley  Forge, 

.     121 

The  Faithful  Monica,    .         .... 

.     125 

The  Value  of  Patience,        .... 

.     121 

LECTURE  V. 

Godliness, 

.     132 

God-ioard-ness,  or  Reverence  toward  Gorl,    . 

.     133 

Characteristics  of  Godliness, 

.     139 

Modes  of  Manifestation,        .... 

.     145 

Counterfeits  of  Godliness,    .... 

.     151 

Motives  to  Godliness,   .        .        .        . 

.     158 

LECTURE  VL 


Brotherly  Kindness, 

Characteristics  of  Brotherly  Love, 
Grounds  of  this  Affection,    . 
The  True  Fraternity,    . 
The  Hindoo  Convert,    . 
How  to  Cherish  this  Love,    . 


162 
165 
1*73 
185 
191 
193 


LECTURE  Vn. 


Charity,  .... 
Agape — A  New  Word, 
Its  Essential  Elements, 
Its  Practical  Sphere,  . 
Hindrances  to  this  Love, 
Methods  of  developing  it, 


199 
203 
206 
214 
222 
225 


CONTENTS. 

xi 

LECTURE    VIII. 

PAGE 

The  Choir  of  Graces, 

.     232 

The  Chorus-Manager,    . 

.     232 

The  Perfect  Scale, 

.     235 

A  Fatal  Deficiency, 

.     237 

Defective  Christians,     . 

.     239 

Symmetry  of  Character, 

.     245 

Abounding  Graces, 

.     253 

Religious  Enjoyment,    . 

.     254 

Growth  of  a  Church,     . 

.     255 

LECTURE  IX. 

From  Grace  to  Glory, 258 

The  Two  Covenants,     . 

.     259 

God's  Calling,        .... 

.     261 

The  Student  and  Missionary, 

.     265 

Full  Development, 

.     269 

Peter's  Experience, 

.     271 

True  Evidence  and  Assurance, 

•    . 

..     273 

Triumph  in  Death, 

.    277 

LECTURE    1/ 

VIETUE. 

Giving  all  diligence,  add  to  your  faith,  Virtue. — 2  Pet.  i.  5. 

]^  common  speech  everj  moral  excel- 
lence is  called  a  virtue.  We  also  give 
the    name    "  virtue "  to    that   outward 

f  conformity  to  the    law  of  God  which 
constitutes    a    good    moral    character. 
Thus    Honesty   is    a  virtue;    Yeracity  is   a 
virtue ;    Chastity  is    a  virtue ;    Temperance 
is    a    virtue  ;    and   he  who-  lives    in    con- 
formity  to    the    moral  law,   performing   all 
moral  duties  and  refraining  from  vice,  is  a 
virtuous  man.     It  is  evident,  however,  that 
the  text  does  not  use  the  word  in  either  of 
these  significations.     It  cannot  intend  by  Yir- 
tue  moral  excellence  in  general,  since  it  goes 
on  to  enumerate  several  particular  moral  ex- 
cellencies,   such    as  Temperance,   Patience, 
Godliness,  and  Charity,  which  must  be  added 
2  18 


14  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

to  Yirtiie  in  order  to  complete  the  Christian 
character.  It  cannot  intend  any  one  in  par- 
ticular of  those  moral  traits  which  we  some- 
times call  virtues,  since  in  addition  to  Virtue, 
it  specifies  most  of  these  by  name.  For  the 
meaning  of  the  apostle  we  must  go  back  to 
the  primary  idea  of  Virtue — which  is,  man- 
liood^  manly  vigor ^  a  courageous  tone  of  mind. 
The  old  martial  Romans  from  whom  our 
word  Virtue  is  directly  inherited,  used  this 
term  to  denote  primarily  the  sum  of  all  cor- 
poreal or  mental  excellencies  in  their  ideal  of 
a  MAN.  Corporeal  strength  or  vigor,  and 
hence  that  quality  of  mind  called  courage, 
bravery,  made  a  wr-tuous,  manly  Eoman.  In 
this  primary  sense  the  highest  virtue  was  valor 
in  war.  Transferring  this  literal  meaning  of 
Virtue  to  a  figurative  use,  it  denotes  moral 
courage  and  force  of  character ;  that  tone  of 
mind  which  gives  firmness,  boldness,  decision, 
energy,  in  whatever  truth  and  duty  may  de- 
mand. 

The  use  of  Virtue  in  the  sense  of  power  or 
energy  is  common  in  old  English  ;  and  there 
are  some  traces  of  this  elsewhere  in  our  ver- 


VIETUE    AS    POWER.  15 

sion  of  tlie  Scriptures,  which  help  to  deter- 
mine the  meaning  of  Virtue  in  the  text.  The 
Greek  word  here  translated  Yirtue,  occurs  but 
four  times  in  the  "New  Testament.  As  used 
by  Paul  in  Philippians,  iv.  8,  it  has  the  sense 
of  moral  excellence.  "  If  there  be  any  virtue, 
and  if  there  be  any  praise" — whatever  is  vir- 
tuous and  praiseworthy — meditate  upon  this. 
But  as  used  by  Peter  with  respect  both  to 
God  and  to  man,  the  word  clearly  denotes 
force,  energy,  power.  There  is  another  word, 
(dvvafiLc — dunamis,  whence  dynamic,)  whose 
primary  meaning  is  poiveT^,  which  our  transla- 
tors, following  Widif,  sometimes  render  by 
Yirtue ;  thus  showing  that  they  attached  to 
Yirtue  the  old  Latin  sense  of  energy  or  force. 
"  Jesus  said,  somebody  hath  touched  me ;  for 
I  perceive  that  virtue  is  gone  out  of  me." 
(Luke  viii.  46.)  "  And  the  whole  multitude 
sought  to  touch  him  ;  for  there  went  virtue 
out  of  him,  and  healed  them  all."  (Luke  vi. 
19).  Here  Yirtue  denotes  not  moral  goodness, 
but  miraculous  healing  power.  Wiclif  uses 
virtues  as  the  equivalent  of  miracles.  Where 
our  version  speiiks  of  the  "  mighty  works " 


16  THE    CrmiSTIAN    GRACES. 

done  in  Cliorazin,  Bethsaida,  and  Capernaum, 
Wiclif  styles  these  "  virtues ;"  "  Wo  to  tliee, 
Chorazin,  wo  to  tliee,  Bethsaida,  for  if  the 
virtues  done  in  you  had  been  done  in  Tyre 
and  Sidon."  (IMatt.  xi.  20,  24;  Luke  x.  13). 
Again :  "  He  could  there  do  no  mighty  work ;" 
Wiclif  reads,*  "  He  must  not  do  there  any 
Virtue^  (Mark  vi.  5.)  So  of  "  the  powers 
of  heaven  -."—where  our  version  reads,  "The 
stars  of  heaven  shall  fall,  and  the  powers  that 
are  in  heaven  shall  be  shaken,"  Wiclif  reads 
"  The  virtues  that  ben  (are)  in  heaven  shall  be 
moved."  (Mark  xiii.  25).  Milton  applies  the 
phrase  "celestial  virtues^^  to  the  fallen  "pow- 
ers and  dominions  "  of  heaven,  rising 

"  More  glorious  and  more  dread  than  from  no  fall."  f 

Here  the  word  "  Yirtues"  conveys  no  idea  of 

*  In  his  translation  of  the  Apocrypha,  Wiclif  uses  Virtue 
for  physical  power.  Thus  he  says  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
"  that  he  gathered  virtue  and  strong  host."  King  James's 
version  reads,  "  a  mighty  strong  host."  (1  Mac.  i.  4.)  Again 
he  describes  John,  Simon's  son,  as  "  Duke  of  all  virtues^'''' 
using  the  word  with  reference  not  to  his  personal  qualities, 
but  to  the  warriors  under  his  command.  The  common  ver- 
sion reads  "  Captain  of  all  the  hosts."  (1  Mac.  xiii.  57.) 
Thus  Wiclif  everywhere  uses  Virtue  in  the  sense  of  power. 

\  Paradise  Lost,  B.  2. 


VIRTUE    AS    rOWEK.  17 

moral  excellencies,  but  is  the  equivalent  of 
Potentates.  The  Miltonic  poetess  of  our  own 
time  uses  "  virtues "  with  the  same  significa- 
tion. Describing  the  descent  of  the  heavenly- 
host  to  view  the  crucifixion,  she  sajs : 

"  Beneath  us  sinks  the  pomp  angelical, 
Cherub  and  seraph,  powers  and  virtues  all."  * 

Here  again  the  term  Virtues  is  a  poetic  syn- 
onym for  Powers.  It  is  obvious  then,  that  in 
old  English  and  in  the  first  English  version  of 
the  Bible,  the  word  Virtue  had  its  priniitive 
Latin  sense  of  manliness,  a  vigorous  or  ener- 
getic spirit ;  and  that  it  sometimes  retains 
this  meaning  in  our  version  and  also  in  good 
poetry.  This  is  the  meaning  which  most  fitly 
renders  the  original  term  in  the  text ;  and  I 
have  been  thus  careful  to  trace  and  define  it, 
because  so  much  of  the  force  and  beauty  of 
the  Apostle's  exhortation  depends  upon  that 
"philosophical  justness  of  classification" 
which  marks  his  "  catalogue  of  virtues." 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  express  this  idea 
of  Virtue  by  any  one  English  synonym.    Isaac 

*  "The  Seraphim." — Mrs.  E.  Barrett  Browning. 

2* 


18  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

Taylor  paraphrases  it  as  "  manly  energy,  or 
the  constancy  and  courage  of  manly  vigor."  * 
The  one  word  which  conies  nearest  to  it,  while 


*  A  more  minute  analysis  of  the  terra  Virtue  is  here  sub- 
joined for  the  benefit  of  the  critical  reader. 

The  term  uperTj  (arete)  translated  Virtue  in  the  text,  de- 
notes strictly  manhood,  prowess,  manly  qualities.  Stephanus 
defines  it  by  "?;iWws,  sed  proprie  virtus  hellica ;''''  martial 
courage  or  valor.  He  cites  a  gloss  on  Thucydides  i.  33  ; 
where  Arete  is  expressed  by  Industria,  Navities,  Virtus^ 
Fortitudo ;  Activity,  Zeal,  Manliness,  Fortitude.  Suidas  de- 
fines Arete  to  be  "  Constantia  et  animi  vigor  ;"  firmness  and 
strength  of  mind.  Homer  applies  it  to  his  heroes  to  denote 
valor  in  battle,  and  other  manly  qualities.  The  Mycenaean 
Periphetes  is  said  to  have  been  "  superior  in  all  kinds  of 
virtues  (aperaf),  whether  in  the  race  or  in  the  combat.^^  (H. 
XV.  642.)  Here  Virtue. denotes  physical  qualities,  such  as 
speed,  strength,  prowess.  So  the  "  god-like  Polydorus"  in 
the  agility  and  valor  which  he  displayed  in  fight,  is  said  to 
have  exhibited  "virtue  of  feet"  or  limbs  (ttoSCjv  aper^v. 
n.  XX.  411.)  The  same  term  is  applied  to  the  valor  of  Me- 
riones;  (II.  xiii.  277),  and  to  the  bodily  vigor  of  Menelaus. 
(n.  xxiii.  578.)  This  primary  sense  of  upen/  is  strictly- ex- 
pressed by  the  Latin  virttis,  from  which  Virtue  is  derived. 
This,  in  its  literal  sense,  is  manhood,  valor  ;  and  is  applied  to 
physical  courage  and  to  energy  of  character — vigor  of  mind 
in  dangers  and  labors.  Cicero  speaks  of  something  akin  to 
virtue  in  animals,  as  in  lions,  dogs  and  horses ;  but  insists 
"that  virtue  of  the  mind"  (animi  virtus)  being  the  offspring 
of  reason,  is  to  be  preferred  to  "  physical  virtue"  (corporis 
virtuti  anteponatur.    De  Finibus,  v.  13,  38).    He  also  speake 


VIRTUE   AS   POWER.  19 

it  lias  the  abundant  sanction  of  good  Englisli 
writers,  is  hardly  domesticated  in  tlie  pulpit ; 
yet  both  the  word  and  the  thing  were  strik- 


of  "the  divine  force  and  virtue  of  the  orator."  Here  virtus 
is  a  pleonasm,  reiterating  the  idea  of  vis. 

The  Vulgate  translates  dvvafitc  by  virhis^  in  the  sense  of 
power  or  energy  ;  and  Wiclif,  as  shown  above,  uses  Virtue 
for  miraculous  power.  In  old  English  statutes,  houses  of 
industry  are  described  as  "houses  of  virtues;''^  Virtue  denot- 
ing qualities  that  produce  thrift. 

Of  the  four  instances  in  which  uper^  occurs  in  the  Xew 
Testament,  only  one  (Phil,  iv,  8,)  is  a  clear  example  of  the 
use  of  the  word  in  its  metaphorical  sense  of  moral  excellence. 
The  remaining  three  are  as  follows  : 

1  Pet.  ii.  9.  "That  ye  should  show  forth  the  praises 
(apETctg)  of  Him  who  hath  called  you."  For  praises  the 
margin  reads  virtites ;  Vulgate  virtutes ;  Wiclif,  "  tell  the 
virtues."  The  reference  is  to  divine  power  and  glory  in 
conversion,  rather  than  to  the  moral  excellence  of  the 
Deity. 

2  Pet.  i.  3.  "  Him  that  hath  called  us  to  glory  and  virtue." 
Here  6la  do^rjg  koI  upeTyc,  clearly  means  "  through  [His] 
glory  and  power.''^  Tischendorf  reads  i^ca  do^y  Koi  dperri^ 
hy  his  own  glory  and  power.  So  the  Vulgate,  propria  gloria 
etvirtute.  DeWette  reads  "  durch  HerrlichKeit  und  ^ra/if," 
through  glory  and  power. 

2  Pet.  i.  5.  The  general  sense  of  moral  excellence  is 
inappropriate  here ;  and  we  must  adopt  the  primitive  mean- 
ing of  virtus,  applied  to  moral  courage.  Virtus  shows  itself 
in  energetic  action,  and  acts  on  the  offensive.  Fortitudo 
shows  itself  in  energetic  resistance,  and  acts  on  the  defen- 
sive.   Vide  Doderlein's  Synonyms. 


rfB 


20  THE   CHRISTIAN    GRACES. 

ingly  expressed  by  an  honored  foreign  mis- 
sionary, when  nrging  upon  tlie  American 
Board  the  immediate  and  thorough  occupa- 
tion of  Turkey,  with  men  and  means  for  the 
service  of  Christ.  Said  Dr.  Schauffler,  "  after 
all  the  discouragements  and  disasters  of  the 
Crimean  campaign,  official  mismanagement, 
army  jealousies,  camp  sickness,*  and  the  dis- 
comforts of  winter,  the  soldiers  held  on  and 
took  SevastojDol,  not  by  science  but  by  phick" 
— and  what  we  need  is  Christian plucJc  to  take 
possession  of  Turkey  in  tlie  name  of  Christ.* 

*  General  Havelock,  in  one  of  his  general  orders,  referred 
the  victory  which  had  been  gained,  to  the  pluck  of  the  Bri- 
tish soldiers.  Richardson,  Halliwell,  and  other  standard 
lexicographers,  give  this  term  in  the  sense  of  courage.  The 
Appendix  to  the  American  Dictionary  compiled  by  Prof.  C. 
A.  Goodrich,  D.D.,  gives  pluck  in  the  same  sense,  on  the 
authority  of  the  most  popular  English  writers ;  and  adds 
plucMness^  pluckili/,  plucky,  on  the  authority  of  Thackeray. 
"To  pluck  up  one's  heart,"  is  to  be  bold  or  manly.  Sir 
Walter  Scott  says  that  "  what  is.  least  forgiven  in  a  man  of 
any  mark  or  likeHhood,  is  want  of  pluck" ;  and,  surely  the 
want  of  this  sturdy  Virtue  can  least  be  forgiven  in  a  soldier 
of  the  cross. 

"  Couldst  thou  not  \Yatch  one  hour  ?  then,  sleep  enough— 
That  sleep  may  hasten  manhood,  and  sustain 
The  faint  pale  spirit  with  some  muscMar  stuf." 

This  "manhood,"  this  "  muscular  stuff,"  is  the  Virtue  of 
the  text. 


CHRISTIANS"    COUEAGE.  21 

And  surely  we  do  need  not  only  Faith  to 
pray  in  confidence  for  the  overthrow  of  Mo- 
hammedanism and  the  false  Christianity  of  the 
East — but  added  to  this  faith,  Virtue — a  mind 
toned  up  with  vigor  and  courage  for  the  as- 
sault, with  firmness  and  bravery,  in  the  con- 
flict. Such  was  the  Yirtue  which  that  mis- 
sionary brother  himself  showed,  when  in 
papal  and  bigoted  Austria  he  braved  the 
threats  of  the  police,  and  preached  the  gospel 
in  his  own  house,  with  a  guard  set  over  him  at 
the  door.  This  is  the  Yirtue  which  all  Christ- 
ians are  expected  at  all  times  to  cultivate. 
"  Giving  all  diligence,  add  to  your  faith  Yir- 
tueP  The  apostle  speaks  to  those  whom  he 
fully  recognizes  as  one  with  himself  in  Christ. 
"  Simon  Peter,  a  servant  and  apostle  of  Jesus 
Christ,  to  them  that  have  obtained  like  pre- 
cious faith  with  us  through  the  righteousness 
of  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  The 
faith  that  bringeth  salvation  is  already  theirs ; 
— ^faith  that  invests  the  soul  with  the  right- 
eousness which  Christ  has  provided  through 
his  blood  ;  faith  in  the  atonement  for  the  for- 
giveness of  sin ;    faith  by  which  they  have 


22  THE   CimiSTIAN    GKACES. 

"  escaped  the  corruption  that  is  in  tlie  world 
throngli  hist."  But  they  are  not  to  rest  in 
that  faith  as  the  whole  of  the  Christian  char- 
acter and  life ; — ^but  in  and  of  that  faith  as  a 
root,  they  are  to  cultivate  the  manifold  graces 
of  that  character  as  j)ortrayed  in  the  ISTew 
Testament.  Add  to  your  faith,  Yirtue ;  as 
followers  of  Christ  cultivate  a  true  Christian 
manhood. 

In  setting  forth  this  exhortation  I  propose 
to  consider : 

I.   In  what  this  Manhood  consists. 
II.   Its  place  in  a  complete  chaeactek. 
TIT.  How  it  may  be  attained  and  culti- 
vated. 

1.  The  Yirtue  of  which  the  apostle  speaks 
— ^boldness,  vigor,  courage,  manhood — is  not 
to  be  confounded  with  rashness.  In  his  earlier 
experience  as  a  disciple,  Peter  w^as  sadly  defi- 
cient in  the  very  Yirtue  w^hich  he  here  recom- 
mends, though  he  w^as  by  no  means  wanting 
in  a  rough  physical  vigor,  and  the  courage 
which  that  inspires.     He  was  rash  but  not 


BOLDNESS   NOT   RASHNESS.  23 

bold ;  he  liad  a  vaporing  bravery  but  not 
true  manliness.  "  Thongli  I  should  die  with 
thee,"  he  said  to  the  Master  whom  he  loved 
with  all  the  strength  of  an  impulsive  nature 
— "  though  I  ■  should  die  with  thee,  yet  will  I 
not  deny  thee." 

And  when  the  multitude  came  to  seize 
Jesus  in  the  garden,  Peter  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  rush  upon  them  alone,  and  with 
his  sword  to  smite  a  servant  of  the  high 
priest.  Yet  a  few  moments  after,  we  see  him 
following  Jesus  "  afar  off,"  and  then  standing 
aloof  in  the  judgment-hall  and  denying  his 
Master,  to  save  the  very  life  he  had  just  vol- 
unteered to  sacrifice  in  the  garden.  Peter 
thought  himself  bold  and  brave,  when  he  was 
only  impulsive  and  rash.  Doubtless  his  faith 
in  Jesus  was  as  full  and  sincere,  and  his  love 
for  the  Master  as  genuine  and  fervent  as  that 
of  any  other  disciple ;  but  he  had  not  then 
added  Virtue  to  his  Faith.  He  could  cling  to 
Christ  while  He  was  manifesting  his  divine 
power  in  miracles  or  teaching  lessons  of  hea- 
venly wisdom ;  at  the  word  of  Christ  he  would 
forsake  his  earthly  all  to  follow  Hirti ;  at  His 


24:  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

command  he  would  go  anywhere  to  testify  of 
the  Messiah ;  he  would  even  go  beyond  the 
other  disciples  in  expressing  his  faith  in  Jesus 
— as  when  he  attempted  to  walk  upon  the 
sea ; — he  was  ready  for  any  sacrifice  which  a 
generous  nature  could  prompt ;  but  how  sadly 
wanting  in  dignity  and  manliness  when  he 
stands  trembling  before  the  servant-maid  in 
the  palace-hall,  and  denies  that  he,  is  a  disci- 
ple of  Jesus,  and  adds  cursing  to  denial !  All 
his  boasted  bravery,  all  his  belligerent  demon- 
stration in  the  garden,  did  not  contain  one 
element  of  real  courage  and  manhood.  Those 
whom  Paul  describes  as  "heady"  or  head- 
long, precipitate  in  temper  and  in  action, 
ready  to  do  anything  upon  the  impulse  of 
the  moment — ^liowever  daring  they  may  be 
upon  impulse — are  wanting  in  that  cool  and 
fixed  purpose  in  the  right,  which  marks  true 
manliness  of  character. 

2.  This  manly  virtue  should  not  be  con- 
founded with  willfulness.  Stubbornness  of 
will  is  not  strength  of  character.  It  is  dog- 
gedness  or  mulishness,  not  manliness.  If  will- 
fulness were  a  virtue,  then  Pharaoh  was  the 


BOLDNESS    NOT  WILLFULNESS.  25 

most  virtuous  of  men,  for  lie  could  stiffen  his 
neck  in  liis  own  way,  regardless  of  warnings 
and  cliastisements  that  filled  his  palace  and 
his  land  with  woe.  Even  when  for  a  time  he 
seemed  to  relax  and  repented  of  his  tyranny, 
the  moment  the  pressure  of  God's  hand  was 
removed,  his  will,  which  had  only  bent  under 
that  pressure,  would  spring  back  and  say,  "  I 
will  not  let  the  people  go." 

The  apostle  Paul  classes  the  "high-minded" 
with  the  heady,  the  head-strong  with  the 
head-long.  These  .high-minded  persons  are 
literally  those  who  are  so  wrapped  up  in  the 
fog  of  their  own  conceit,  that  they  can  see 
nothing  but  themselves,  and  think  of  nothing 
but  tlieir  own  will.  They  do  not  take  a  wide 
survey  of  things  as  the  basis  of  a  practical 
judgment,  but  make  up  their  own  will,  and 
keep  to  that  because  it  is  their  will,  which 
they  regard  as  the  final  and  sufiicient  cause 
of  all  things.  A  resolute,  unfaltering  purpose 
to  do  right,  a  will  to  honor  God  and  to  stand 
by  truth  and  duty,  a  will  which  cannot  be 
broken  upon  the  wheel,  nor  relaxed  by  the 
fires  of  martyrdom,  but  like  steel  grows  more 


26  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES.  » 

firm  and  inflexible  under  pressure  and  heat — 
such  a  will  is,  indeed,  a  manly  Yirtue.  But 
"  will-worship,"  the  magnifying  of  self-w^ill, 
adherence  to  a  position  or  course,  not  be- 
cause it  is  known  and  felt  to  be  right,  but  be- 
cause it  has  been  taken,  and  ]3ride  forbids  to 
change — this  willfulness  is  as  far  from  Christ- 
ian manliness  as  a  spoiled  child  is  from  an 
angel. 

3.  But  the  Yirtue  of  which  we  speak,  while 
it  is  neither  rash  nor  willful,  is  ahvays  bold, 
firm,  and  determined  in  maintaining  truth 
and  performing  duty ;  it  is  «  manly  and  ener- 
getic tone  of  mind — a  resolute  and  enduring 
efficiency — all  which  the  same  apostle  intends 
when  he  says,  "  Gird  up  the  loins  of  your 
mind,"  invest  yourselves  with  the  spirit  of 
courage  and  firmness  for  the  defence  of  the 
truth. 

(1.)  An  obvious  constituent  of  this  state  of 
mind  is  an  intelligent  conviction  of  truth  and 
duty.  "A  double-minded  man  is  unstable  in 
all  his  ways."  Steadfastness  in  purpose  is  im- 
possible where  the  mind  is  doubtful  as  to  the 
object  in  view.     "  If  the  trumpet  give  an  un-- 


CONFIDENCE   IN   TRUTH.  .  27 

certain  sound,  who  shall  prepare  himself  to 
the  battle  ?"    Tliough  the  trumpet  is  of  the 
finest  quality,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  most 
skillful  player,  if  the  summons  is  uncertain,  it 
will  cause  excitement    and   agitation  in  the 
camp,  but  will  not  rally  the  army  to  battle  or 
inspire  them  with  courage  for  the  fight.     But 
if  the  trumpet  gives    forth  the    unfaltering 
notes  of  faith  and  courage   and   anticipated 
triumph,   though   the    instrument   is   but    a 
ram's  horn,  the  people  will  rally  with  a  shout, '. 
and  the  walls  ,of  Jericho  will  fall  flat  before 
them.    If  the  summons  from  within,  the  voice 
of  conscience,  the  inward  conviction  of  duty 
and  right  be  clear  and  strong,  the  outward 
purpose  will  be  bold  and  steady.     There  may 
be  uncertainty  as  to  the  result,  there  may  be 
a  certainty  of  conflict   and  trial ;   the  imme- 
diate prospect  in  obeying  conscience  may  be 
the  fiery  furnace  and  the  lion's  d^n ;  but  the 
voice  within  is  stronger  than  all  outward  ter- 
rors, and  the  simple  conviction  of  truth  and 
right  nerves  the  soul  with  manly  Yirtue.    But 
if  the  mind  is  not  sure  of  its  own  position  as 
to  the  issue  or  principle  involved,  if  it  hesi- 


28  THE   CIIEISTIAN   GEACES. 

tales  in  its  conviction,  of  right  and  duty  in  the 
case,  it  will  have  no  strength  or  persistence 
of  purpose  in  action.  It  may  move  promptly, 
boldly,  earnestly,  under  an  impulse  of  feeling 
or  a  sudden  sense  of  duty,  but  it  will  not  hold 
on  under  opposition.  It  will  be  ready  to  draw 
swords  with  Peter  against  the  mob,  but  it 
wiU  lie  with  Peter  to  a  servant  maid : — 

"  As  God  had  called  thee  to  a  serapKs  part, 
With  a  man's  quailing  heart." 

A  purpose  springing  from  mere  feeling  is  apt 
to  prove  unstable,  since  feeling  is  a  variable 
quantity.  JSTeuralgia,  dyspepsia,  or  the  head- 
ache, may  change  a  mere  nervous  courage 
into  a  nervous  timidity.  Manly  resolve  rests 
upon  intelligent  conviction.  When  the  mind 
which  has  received  Christ  as  the  object  of  its 
faith  and  the  hope  of  its  salvation,  perceives 
clearly  what  Christ  requires  of  it,  and  resolves 
to  carry  out  its  conviction  of  truth  and  duty 
with  an  earnest  purpose  to  the  end,  then  it 
adds  to  its  faith,  Yirtue.  Strength  of  convic- 
tion gives  courage  to  resolution. 

(2.)  But  in  order  to  this  manly  Yirtue,  the 


OBEDIENCE  TO   GOD.  29 

prmcijple  of  obedience  to  God  must  he  estdb- 
Lished  in  the  soul  as  finals  above  all  personal 
interests,  above  all  earthly  good,  above  all 
merely  human  custom  or  law,  above  whatever 
would  obtrude  itself  between  the  personal 
soul  and  a  personal  God,  its  Creator,  Ruler, 
and  Judge.  There  is  no  motive  of  action 
which  can  give  to  the  soul  such  energy  and 
fortitude,  such  lofty  and  determined  purpose, 
as  this  of  obedience  to  God — for  this  alone 
is  unmixed  with  the  earthly,  the  temporal, 
the  perishing.  This  lifts  the  soul  out  of  the 
sphere  of  the  body  into  that  world  of  spirits 
where  it  walks  with  patriarchs  and  prophets, 
with  psalmists  and  apostles,  with  confessors 
and  martyrs,  with  Christ  and  with  God.  You 
cannot  cower  down  a  soul  that  rests  implicitly 
on  God.  Threaten  it  with  torture  and  cruel 
death,  show  it  the  .dungeon,  the  rack,  the 
stake,  it  calmly  replies:  "We  know  that  if 
our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dis- 
solved, we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens ; 
and  in  this  confidence  we  are  willing  rather 
to  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  to  be  present 
3* 


30  THE   CHKISTIAN   GEACES. 

with  the  Lord.  Whei-efore  we  labor,  that, 
whether  present  or  absent,  we  may  be  accept- 
ed of  KimP  With  this  in  view,  with  the 
thought  of  God  overmastering  all  other 
thoughts,  with  the  presence  of  God  felt  in  the 
soul  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible,  there 
comes  a  conscious  strength  to  do  every  duty, 
to  meet  every  trial,  a  strength  which  is  not  vio- 
lent or  impetuous,  but  calm  and  invincible. 

When  Luther  stood  before  that  court  of 
the  German  empire  which  held  his  life  in  its 
hands,  it  is  said  that  he  was  the  only  person 
in  the  assembly  who  was  perfectly  undisturb- 
ed. When  called  upon  to  retract  the  heresies 
of  his  writings,  "  he  made  answer  in  a  low 
and  humble  tone,  without  any  vehemence  or 
violence,  but  with  gentleness  and  mildness, 
and  in  a  manner  full  of  respect  and  diffidence, 
yet  with  much  joy  and  Christian  firmness." 
He  said  that  if  in  anything  he  had  used  severe 
and  bitter  language  to  men,  he  was  wrong ; 
but  as  to  doctrine,  said  he,  "  I  cannot  submit 
my  faith  either  to  pope  or  councils.  If  I  am 
not  convinced  by  Holy  Scripture,  and  if  my 
judgment  is  not  thus  brought  into  subjection 


LUTHER    AT   WORMS.  31 

to  God's  "Word,  I  neitlier  will  nor  can  re- 
tract anything,  for  it  cannot  be  right  for  a 
Christian  to  speak  against  his  conscience." 

"  If  you  do  not  retract,"  said  the  papal 
chancellor,  "the  emperor  and  the  diet  must 
proceed  to  deal  with  you  as  a  heretic." 

That  meant  the  prison  and  the  stake,  and 
Luther's  friends  trembled  and  wept.  He 
looked  up  calmly  and  said,  "Then  God  be 
my  helper,  for  I  can  retract  nothing." 

On  the  way  to  Worms,  Luther  had  been 
shown  a  portrait  of  the  Italian  monk  Savona- 
rola, who  had  been  burnt  for  denouncing  the 
pope.  After  gazing  long  and  earnestly  upon 
it,  he  exclaimed,  "  Out  of  the  fire  into  glory 
— ^I  take  no  fear  but  comfort  from  this  pic- 
ture." Such  was  the  lofty  courage  of  a  soul 
whose  principle  it  was  in  all  things  to  obey 
God.  Luther  was  ready  to  die  for  the  doc- 
trine of  justification  by  faith,  since  he  himself 
had  added  to  faith — ^Virtue,  a  manly  cour- 
age, a  holy  energy  of  soul — ^proceeding  from 
an  intelligent  and  principled  obedience  to 
God. 

(3.)  One  other  constituent  enters  into  this 


32  THE   CHRISTIAN    GRACES. 

manlj  virtue — that  is,  franhiess  or  sincerity 
in  avowing  one's  convictions  of  truth  and 
duty.  One  cannot  be  manly  unless  he  is 
frank.  Even  those  who  practise  concealment 
and  duplicity,  at  heart  despise  it.  The  most 
adroit  politician  will  denounce  such  arts  when 
turned  against  himself.  Meanness  and  man- 
liness cannot  exist  together,  much  less  can  du- 
plicity and  Christian  manliness  abide  in  the 
same  heart.  He  who  w^ould  be  manly  must 
be  open.  Frankness  is  not  forwardness;  it 
does  not  require  that  one  should  be  alw^ays 
thinking  aloud  and  talking  aloud  about  his 
own  affairs ;  neither  is  it  bluntness  and  rough- 
ness of  manner ;  its  plainness  of  speech  is  al- 
ways kind  in  tone  and  spirit ;  but  it  does  for- 
bid one  from  a  selfish  motive,  to  conceal  his 
convictions  when  truth  and  duty  are  in  ques- 
tion ;  it  does  require  that  one  shall  always 
avow  his  adherence  to  the  truth  when  truth 
is  in  jeopardy;  that  he  shall  let  it  be  known 
where  he  stands  upon  any  question  of  right 
in  the  great  controversy  between  God  and 
men. 

He  who  has  an  intelligent   conviction  of 


PETEE   AND  JOHN.  '  33 

truth  and  duty,  and  with  whom  the  principle 
of  obedience  to  God  is  the  highest  law  of  ac- 
tion, must  be  ready  always  to  give  a  reason 
for  the  faith  that  is  in  him,  to  avow  it,  and  to 
stand  by  it.  "When  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim 
threatened  Peter  and  John,  and  forbade  them 
to  speak  or  teach  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  the 
apostles  fell  back  upon  conscience  and  the 
law  of  Christian  obedience,  and  said, 
"  "Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God, 
to  hearken  to  you  more  than  to  God,  judge 
ye ;  for  we  cannot  but  speak  the  things  which 
we  have  seen  and  heard."  That  was  Christ- 
ian manliness,  the  avowed  determination  in 
the  very  face  of  a  threatening  power,  to  stand 
by  their  convictions  of  truth  and  duty,  and  to 
carry  out  those  convictions  under  a  sense  of 
direct  responsibility  to  God.  Peter  had  now 
learned  to  add  to  his  faith,  Virtue.  With 
none  of  the  rashness  and  bluster  of  the  garden, 
with  none  of  the  timidity  and  concealment  of 
the  palace  hall,  his  faith  enlightened  and  invig- 
orated, his  convictions  strengthened,  his  reso- 
lution fixed  in  principle,  instead  of  trying  to 
hide  his  connection  with  Christ,  he  openly  pro- 


34  THE   CHBISTIAN    GRACES. 

claims  it,  instead  of  following  afar  off,  lie  de- 
clares his  purpose  to  preacli  Christ  everywhere. 
Simon  Peter  has  now  become  a  rock. 

Is  there  any  other  requisite  for  such  Yirtne  ? 
It  seems  to  me  that  this  analysis  exhausts  it : 
An  intelligent  and  thorough  conviction  of 
truth  and  duty;  the  fixed  principle  of  obe- 
dience to  God  ;  entire  frankness  in  all  suitable 
times  and  places,  in  avowing  that  conviction, 
in  standing  by  that  principle  ; — these  give  to 
the  mind  that  lofty,  firm,  independent,  invinci- 
ble tone,  which  is  Virtue,  courage,  manliness. 

n.  The  importance  of  this  Virtue  to  com- 
pleteness of  character  is  evident  without  argu- 
ment. There  can  be  no  sterling  character 
without  tliis.  "  Unstable  as  water,"  said  Jacob 
to  Eeuben,  "  thou  shalt  not  excel."  Eeuben 
had  many  excellent  qualities.  When  his 
brethren  were  resolved  upon  killing  Joseph, 
Eeuben  persuaded  them  to  spare  his  life,  and 
cast  liim  into  a  pit,  intending  afterward  to  de- 
liver him,  and  restore  him  to  his  father ;  and 
when  in  his  absence  the  boy  was  sold,  "  he 
rent  his  clothes,  saying  the  child  is  not,  and  I, 


WASHINGTON.  35 

whitlier  shall  I  go  ?"  But  with  all  his  ami- 
able and  gentle  traits,  and  with  his  position 
as  the  first-born,  at  the  head  of  the  family, 
Reuben  could  not  become  the  leader  of  the 
tribes,  because  he  lacked  this  very  virtue  of 
firmness  and  courage.  Unstable  as  water,  he 
could  not  excel.  The  apostle  Paul  exhorts 
believers  to  be  so  established  in  Christ,  that 
they  shall  "  be  no  more  children,  tossed  to  and 
fro,  and  carried  about  with  every  wind  of 
doctrine  ;"  and  again,  that  they  "  stand  fast  in 
one  spirit,  in  nothing  terrified  by  their  adver- 
saries." This  standing  fast  in  manly  Yirtue, 
this  girding  up  the  loins  of  the  mind  to  .do  all 
duty  and  to  brave  all  trial,  this  calm  rich  tone 
of  vigor  and  endurance  in  all  that  conscience 
and  the  truth  demand,  this  Yirtue  interming- 
ling with  and  sustaining  all  the  gentler  graces, 
like  the  swell  notes  of  an  organ  opening  upon 
its  softer  stops,  this  gives  us  the  sense  of  com- 
pleteness and  of  abiding  strength  in  char- 
acter. 

In  the  character  of  Washington  we  feel 
this  majestic  undertone.  !Never  rash  nor  re- 
vengeful ;  never  timid  nor  despairing ;  mild 


36  THE   CHKISTIAN   GEACES. 

witliout  weakness ;  stern  without  cruelty ; 
cautious  to  retreat  when  retreat  was  the  only 
j)ossible  deliverance,  but  bold  to  cross  a 
bridge  of  ice  at  midnight  that  he  might  con- 
quer the  enemy  at  break  of  day ;  always  self- 
poised  amid  the  fears  and  losses,  the  cares  and 
perils,  the  doubts  and  struggles  of  a  wasting 
war  ; — his  manly  bravery  resting  in  his  calm 
confidence  in  the  right  and  his  disinterested 
devotion  to  the  right — this  gives  to  the  charac- 
ter of  "Washington  a  lofty  and  imperishable 
greatness. 

The  annals  of  Christian  martyrdom  often 
exhibit  this  manly  Virtue  grafted  upon  child- 
like faith.  Long  before  Luther  braved  the 
pope  in  Germany,  Savonarola  had  braved 
him  in  Italy.  The  head  of  this  Italian  re- 
former in  the  pictures  which  have  come  down 
to  us,  reminds  one  of  the  ideal  head  of  Christ 
in  the  prevailing  type  of  the  great  masters.* 
It  has  the  same  "  halo  of  sanctity."  Tlie  fair 
complexion,  the  "  calm  blue  eye,"  the  grace- 
ful outline,  indicate  a  soul  of  rare  delicacy  of 

*  The  original  by  Fra  Bartolomeo  is  in  the  gallery  of  St. 
Mark  at  Florence. 


SAVONAKOLA.  37 

feeling  and  beauty  of  perception.  But  "  tlie 
fall,  firm  lips,"  and  the  "  steady  bearing"  of 
the  fi^re,  mark  also  a  character  of  high 
decision,  of  unflinching  purpose  to  do  or  to 
suffer.  And  such  he  was:  a  gentle,  loving 
child,  nursed  in  the  bosom  of  affluence,  and 
educated  in  the  best  manner,  he  yet  tore  him- 
self from  the  heart  of  his  famil}^,  from  the 
enticements  of  wealth  and  ambition,  that  he 
might  satisfy  the  hunger  of  his  soul  in  a  con- 
vent— the  best  place  of  religious  retirement 
and  instruction  that  the  age  afforded.  Like 
Jerome,  also,  whose  name  he  bore,  he  devoted 
his  convent  life  in  part  to  literary  labors.  But 
finding  vice  and  corruption  within  the  con- 
vent, he  for  a  while  mourned  in  silence,  till 
he  found  comfort  and  strength  in  the  "  sweet 
love  of  Jesus."  At  length  he  came  forth  a 
bold  and  earnest  preacher  against  tlie  corrup- 
tions of  the  church  itself.  With  the  fidelity 
of  John  the  Baptist  he  reproved  the  sins  of 
the  court,  an*wamed  the  people  of  coming 
judgments.  He  even  assumed  the  functions 
of  a  prophet,  and  sometimes  weakened  his 
denunciations  by  his  enthusiasm.  The  Duke* 
4 


38  THE   GHEISTIAIT   GRACES. 

of  Florence,  of  the  rich  and  noble  family  of 
the  Medici,  sought  to  bribe  him  with  costly 
gifts ;  but  Savonarola  answered,  "  Tie  good 
dog  barks  to  defend  his  master's  house,  and 
if  a  robber  offers  him  a  bone,  he  pushes  it 
aside  and  barks  still ;"  and  he  continued  to 
denounce  the  luxury  and  vice  of  the  Floren- 
tine capital  and  the  papal  court.  His  manly 
courage  exasperated  the  pope,  who,  finding 
that  he  could  not  silence  the  fearless  monk, 
pronounced  against  him  the  sentence  of  ex- 
communication. 

*'  From  the  pope"  said  Savonarola,  "  I  ap- 
peal to  the  heavenly  Pope,  Christ  Jesus." 

He  was  brought  to  the  stake.  They  stripped 
him  of  his  priestly  robes,  the  bishop  using  the 
form  of  excommunication  against  heretics,  "  I 
separate  thee  from  the  church  triumphant." 

"  N^ay,"  replied  the  martyr,  with  a  calm, 
firm  tone — "  from  the  church  militant — ^from 
the  church  triumjphant  thou  canst  not  sepa- 
rate me." 

Meekly  bearing  the  taunts  of  his  enemies, 

,  he  prayed  with  his  companions — and  "  while 

the  flames  were  circling  around  his  arm,  he 


BIBLE    IIEEOES.  39 

raised  his  hand  and  made  the  sign  of  benedic-. 
tion  upon  the  multitude  who  were  exulting  in 
his  death."  Call  him  a  Mystic,  an  Enthusiast, 
if  you  will ; — yet  does  nbt  such  a  soul  stand 
before  you  in  kingly  majesty  ?  And  do  you 
not  feel  that  this  Yirtue  which  you  are  ex- 
horted to  add  to  your  faith,  is  the  very  essence 
and  glory  of  all  Christian  heroism  ? 

m.    How   SHALL   THIS  YiETUE   BE  ATTAINTED  ? 

How  may  you  be  endowed  with  this  high  and 
holy  resolve  for  duty  and  for  Christ?  The 
text  teaches  that  you  must  cultivate  Yirtue 
with  all  diligence.  Set  your  mind  upon  it  as 
within  your  reach,  to  be  attained,  necessary 
to  a  complete  Christian  character ;  and  seek  it 
with  wakeful  desire,  with  determined  study. 

(1.)  Study  the  examples  of  those  who  ham 
Tnanifested  Virtue.  Look  at  J^oah,  standing 
up  against  the  cavils  of  an  apostate  world  to 
do  the  command  of  God — a  preacher  of  right- 
eousness. Look  at  Abraham,  with  fiirm  tread 
walking  trackless  wastes  to  unknown  lands, 
his  courage  rooted  in  faith.  Look  at  Moses 
confronting  the  stubborn  will  of  Pharaoh,  and 


40  THE   CKRISTIAIT   GRACES. 

•leading  forth  the  people  of  God — not  fearing 
the  wrath  of  the  king.  Look  at  Paul,  ready 
to  face  a  Jewish  mob,  or  the  prejudiced  San- 
hedrim, or  pagan  governors  and  Eoman  cap- 
tains, or  the  wild  beasts  at  Ephesns,  or  the 
dungeon  at  Eome,  and  to  stand  in  Caesar's 
palace  as  a  witness  for  Christ.  Look  at  the 
long  line  of  martyrs  whose  manly  virtue  is  the 
sublimest  heroism  of  history.  Tlie  study  of 
such  characters  is  a  tonic  for  the  soul  when 
depressed  with  fears.  Look  at  those  ancient 
worthies,  "  who  through  faith  subdued  king- 
doms, wrought  righteousness,  obtained  pro- 
mises, stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched 
the  violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the 
sword,  out  of  weakness  were  made  strong, 
waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  fiight  the 
armies  of  the  aliens  ;"  or  who,  with  a  j)assive 
courage  no  less  sublime,  "  were  tortured, 
not  accepting  deliverance,  and  had  trial  of 
cruel  mockings  and  scourgings,  of  bonds  and 
imprisonment ;  who  were  stoned,  sawn  asun- 
der, slain  with  the  sword."  When  our  courage 
falters,  let  us  reassure  ourselves  by  looking  up 
from  the  dust  and  strife  of  the  arena  to  that 


OPPORTUNiriKS     FOR    VIRTUE.  41 

great  cloud  of  witnesses  compassing  us  about 
like  a  crowded  ampliitlieatre.  Above  all,  let 
us  reassure  ourselves  by  standing  as  ever  in  the 
great  Task-Master's  eye ;  "  looking  unto  Jesus, 
tlie  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith.  For  con- 
sider him  that  endured  such  contradiction  of 
sinners  against  himself,  lest  ye  be  wearied  and 
faint  in  your  minds.  Ye  have  not  yet  resisted 
unto  llood^  striving  against  sin.^^ 

(2.)  To  attain  the  full  vigor  of  Christian 
manliness,  you  must  exercise  this  virtue  when- 
ever you  have  Ojpportunity.  Yirtues  will  not 
come  to  serve  us  upon  great  occasions,  unless 
they  are  trained  and  developed  day  by  day. 
One  who  allows  himself  habitually  to  be  Iqd 
oy  others  in  little  things,  will  have  no  manly 
independence  when  tested  with  some  great 
responsibility.  He  who  suffers  timidity  to 
prevail  against  duty  in  the  least  thing,  will 
sacrifice  the  greatest  interests  to  his  personal 
fears.  Are  you  moved  to  speak  to  another 
upon  the  state  of  his  soul — and  yet  do  you 
shrink  from  the  possibility  of  a  rebuff  ?  Re- 
solve that  you  will  perform  this  duty ;  pray 
that  you  may  conquer  your  weakness ;  go  and 
4* 


42  THE  CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

do  it,  and  you  will  add  to  your  faith,  Yirtue. 
Are  you  moved  to  admonisb.  an  erring  bro- 
ther ?  ISTo  matter  how  painful  the  task,  take 
up  that  duty  and  perform  it.  Go  in  meekness, 
in  the  spirit  of  love,  but  with  the  Master's 
strength,  and  you  will  add  to  faith,  Yirtue. 
Are  you  called  upon,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  to  take  some  untried  responsibility  for 
the  cause  of  Christ  ?  Do  not  shrink  from  it, 
but  stand  in  your  lot ;  it  may  be  just  the 
discipline  you  need  to  add  to  your  faith, 
Yirtue.  John  Knox  wept  for  very  weakness 
when  his  brethren  called  him  to  be  their 
leader ;  but  with  faith  in  Christ  he  put  on 
manly  resolve,  and  then  the  wayward  and 
willful  Queen  trembled  and  wept  under  his 
bold  rebukes. 

Tlie  young  Christian  should  begin  early  to 
cultivate  this  holy  courage ; — ^learn  to  say  ITO 
to  every  solicitation  of  evil ;  learn  to  say  YES 
to  every  call  of  duty.  He  that  is  faithful  in 
that  which  is  least,  is  faithful  also  in  that 
which  is  greatest.  The  gunner  who  held  his 
finger  on  the  touch-hole  till  it  burnt  to  the 
joint,  that  he  might  save  the  life  of  the  ram- 


THE   POWER   OF   FAITH.  43 

mer,  from  a  premature  discharge,  would  have 
saved  the  Austria  by  that  cool  courage  which 
conquers  fire  and  flood. 

(3.)  Since  Yirtue  rests  upon  faith,  you  can 
strengthen  and  develop  it  ly  increasing  faith 
as  a  living  power  in  the  soul.  Much  as  we 
may  discipline  ourselves  to  Yirtue,  our  strength 
must  lie  not  in  ourselves,  and  our  purposes, 
but  in  God  our  Saviour.  "  He  giveth  power 
to  the  faint,  and  to  them  that  have  no  might 
he  increaseth  strength."  "  My  grace  is  suffi- 
cient for  thee ;  for  my  strength  is  made  perfect 
in  w^eakness."  And  Paul  proved  this  when 
he  stood  before  Kero.  "At  my  first  answer 
no  man  stood  with  me,  but  all  men  forsook 
me.  Notwithstanding  the  Loed  stood  with 
me  and  strengthened  me."  In  Christ  we  can 
stand  alone.  A  living  faith  secures  a  manly 
piety.  A  faith  that  rises  above  a  mere  con- 
ventional belief,  and  becomes  a  vital  presence 
of  Christ  in  the  soul,  will  lift  the  man  in 
thought  and  action  above  the  dictation  and 
opposition  of  the  world. 

"  May  the  God  of  all  grace,  who  hath  called 
us  to  his  eternal  glory  by  Christ  Jesus,  make 


44  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

you  perfect,  stdblish^  strengthen^  settle  you. 
To  him  be  glory  and  dominion,  forever  and 
ever.    Amen." 


LECTURE     II. 
KNOWLEDGE. 

Add  to  virtue  Knowledge.  —2  Peter  i.  5. 

)IETIJE  we  have  defined  to  be  Christian 
valor  or  Manliness  ;  that  tone  or  quality 
of  mind  which  gives  it  firmness  for  duty, 
courage  in  danger.  JS'ot  rashness,  nor 
willfulness,  but  an  intelligent  conviction 
of  truth  and  duty,  an  uncompromising  prin- 
ciple of  obedience  to  God,  a  frank  and  hearty 
commitment  of  oneself  to  the  right — these  com- 
bining to  produce  in  the  mind  a  tone  of  decision, 
of  quiet  but  unflinching  resolve,  in  whatever  God 
in  his  providence  may  require  us  to  do  for  his 
glory  and  for  the  cause  of  Christ.  This  Christian 
valor  is  finely  personated  by  Mr.  Greatheart, 
in  the  Pilgrim's  Progress.  Mr.  Greatheart, 
a  strong  man,  who  was  not  afraid  of  a  lion, 
gave  his  services  as  guide  to  Christiana  and 
her   children,   defending   their  faith    by  his 

45 


46  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

vigorous  arm.  He  was  of  a  most  gentle  dis- 
position, so  til  at  little  children  would  cling  to 
him ;  lie  was  devout  in  feeling  and  could  con- 
verse to  edification  upon  tlie  doctrines  of  faith ; 
but  his  valor  was  grounded  in  faith,  and  there- 
fore partook  of  the  strength  of  Christ  himself. 
When  challenged  by  giant  Maul  and  com- 
manded to  turn  back  from  the  heavenly  way, 
Greatheart  replied :  "  I  am  a  servant  of  the 
God  of  heaven.  I  am  commanded  to  do  my 
endeavors  to  turn  men,  women,  and  children 
from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of 
Satan  unto  God."  And  when  the  giant  fell 
upon  him  with  his  club,  and  they  fought  till 
both  were  exhausted;  while  the  enemy  was 
refreshing  himself  for  a  new  attack,  Greatheart 
betook  himself  to  prayer,  and  thus  prevailed. 
This  Greatheart  was  Christian  courage  im- 
planted in  a  poor,  weak  woman,  and  giving 
her  the  victory  of  faith.  Tlie  Christian  pil- 
grim should  promptly  enlist  Greatheart  as  his 
champion  and  guidfe;  adding  to  his  faith 
Virtue,  a  manly  vigor  in  the  Truth,  a  holy 
courage  for  the  Eight. 

But  tliis  is  only  one  item  in  the  catalogue 


KNOWLEDGE.     -  47 

of  graces  which  Christians  are  exhorted  to 
cultivate ;  perhaps  that  which  was  first  needed 
under  the  persecutions  of  those  days — ^boldness 
and  firmness  in  the  faith — ^but  by  no  means 
completing  the  Christian  character.  It  is  not 
enough  that  we  have  faith ;  but  faith  and  firm- 
ness must  be  attended  by  I{jiow^*dge  as  a 
counsellor,  must  be  inspired  also  by  the  liigher 
communications  of  divine  wisdom; — add  to 
your  faith  virtue,  and  to  virtue  knowledge. 

The  meaning  of  the  term  Knowledge  must 
be  ascertained  by  a  comparison  of  the  text 
with  other  passages  in  which  this  word  occurs. 
It  is  of  course  knowledge  with  respect  to 
spiritual  things  and  religious  duties,  of  which 
the  apostle  here  speaks.  Tliis  word  is  used  in 
the  Kew  Testament  some  thirty  times,  and 
with  various  shades  of  signification.  Some- 
times it  denotes  a  supernatural  gift,  know- 
ledge by  immediate  inspiration.  Perhaps  it  is 
in  this  sense  that  the  "  word  of  knowledge"  is 
classed  with  the  gifts  of  healing  and  of  tongues, 
and  with  other  miraculous  powers.  But  since 
all  Christians  are  exhorted  to  add  Knowledge 

o 

to  their  faith,  the  apostle  cannot  intend  a 


48  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

miraculous  gift  wliich  God  only  could  bestow. 
And  for  the  same  reason,  he  cannot  here  intend 
the  power  or  faculty  of  knowing,  in  which 
sense  the  word  is  used  when  it  is  said  that 
"  the  love  of  Christ  passeth  knowledge"  i.  e. 
is  beyond  the  natural  comprehension  of  men. 
We  catonot  add  a  new  sense  or  faculty  to  our/ 
natural  endowments. 

Again,  the  word  knowledge  is  used  for  the 
ohject  of  knowledge,  and  especially  the  system 
of  truth  made  known  in  the  Gosjiel.  But  this 
must  be  known,  in  a  measure,  before  we  can 
have  faith ;  and  the  Knowledge  spoken  of  in 
the  text  comes  after  faith.  Knowledge  is  used 
also  to  denote  a  general  apprehension  of  reli- 
gious truth ;  but,  as  this  is  essential  to  the  act 
of  faith  in  Christ,  it  could  hardly  be  referred 
to  as  a  something  to  be  added  to  faith.  Isaac 
Taylor  says,  this  Knowledge  is  "  neither  human 
erudition  nor  general  intelligence,  but  that 
specific  knowledge  of  which  the  Gospel  is  the 
subject."  His  negative  statement  is  of  course 
.correct;  but  "the  specific  knowledge  of  the 
Gospel  muBt  ^precede  faith  as  its  basis ;  and  the 
apostle  bids. us  add  Knowledge  to  Faith. 


SPIRITUAL  INSIGHT.  49 

There  is  another  use  of  the  word  which  applies 
it  to  the  deejp^  clear^  and  cordial  ajpjperGejption 
of  truth^  followed  hy  the  discriminating  adajp- 
tation  of  truth  to  practical  ends.  Thus  the 
apostle  Paul  speaks  of  the  Christians  at  Rome 
as  "  full  of  goodness,  filled  with  all  knowledge, 
able  to  admonish  one  another  ;"*  i.  e.  they  pos- 
sessed that  discriminating  insight  into  truth 
which  would  shed  light  upon  questions  of 
practical  duty. 

Again,  in  writing  to  the  Corinthians  upon 
the  question  of  eating  sacrificial  meat,  Paul 
speaks  of  Knowledge,  the  clear  discernment  of 
things  in  their  spiritual  relations,  as  enabling 
t]ie  Christian  to  discriminate  between  the  act 
of  eating  for  food  meat  which  some  pagan  had 
offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols,  and  the  act  of 
sacrificing  to  idols  or  of  partaking  of  meat  as 
sacred  by  reason  of  such  sacrifice.  The  true 
spiritual  recognition  of  "one  God,  of  whom 
are  all  things,"  leads  to  a  wise  practical  use  of 
all  things  as  from  Him.  Such  a  discriminating 
insight  enlightening  the  judgment,  is  Christian 
Knowledge.f    Where  the  same  apostle  dis- 

*  Rom.  XV.  14.  f  1  Cor.  viii.  6-11. 


50  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

tinguislies  Knowledge  from  "  wisdom"  on  the 
one  hand,  and  from  "  revelation"  on  the  other, 
he  seems  to  characterize  KnoAvledge  as  a  cer- 
tain insight  into  spiritual  things,  which  differs 
from  mere  mental  sagacity,  and  which  though 
not  of  the  nature  of  inspiration,  is  attained  and 
exercised  through  the  enlightening  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.*  In  the  same  sense  the  word 
is  used  by  Peter  in  the  text.  Knowledge  is  a 
spiritual  ajpjperc&ption  of  divine  things^  form- 
ing and  controlling  the  practical  judgment. 
A  soul  informed  by  such  Knowledge  discerns 
the  way  of  truth  and  duty.  This  Knowledge 
is  not  the  mere  perception  of  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel  in  their  objective  form,  not  only  a  sub- 
stance of  doctrine  assured  to  the  intellectual 
assent,  but  an  apperception  of  Gospel  truths  in 
their  inward  spiritual  relations,  the  mind  illu- 
mined by  the  Spirit,  revolving  things  divine, 
till  objective  truth  is  transformed  into  experi- 
mental knowledge,  which  guides  the  life. 

♦  "  Celestial  Light 

Shine  inward,  and  the  mind  through  all  her  powers 
Irradiate  ; — there  plont  eyes^ 

*  1  Cor.  xii.  8  and  xiv.  6. 


THE   TKUE    "gnosis."  61 

From  tMs  general  definition  of  the  term,* 
we  pass  to  consider  more  specifically 

I.  What  this  knowledge  is. 

n.  How  it  may  be  cultivated. 

III.  The  excellence  of  this  k^towledge  in 

its  effects. 
1.  This  inward  experimental  Knowledge  of 

*  Classical  usage  helps  us  little  as  to  the  meaning  of 
♦  yvuaiq  (gnosis)  in  the  New  Testament.  Plato  uses  it  com- 
monly of  "  understanding,"  though  sometimes  of  a  deeper 
philosophical  insight.  But  with  the  iVeo-Platonists,  gnosis 
came  to  be  almost  a  technical  term  for  higher  insight, 
deeper  wisdom,  a  certain  mysterious  knowledge  reserved  to 
the  initiated.  In  this  sense  of  deep  spiritual  insight,  but 
without  the  associations  of  mysticism  or  mystery,  the  word 
gnosis  is  often  used  in  the  New  Testament,  It  is  a  term 
pecuHarly  liable  to  abuse  by  enthusiastic  minds,  and  before 
the  close  of  the  apostolic  age  there  began  to  appear  a  sect 
of  Gnostics,  who  claimed  to  have  "  an  extraordinary  insight 
into  divine  things  beyond  the  system  of  faith,  which  the  peo- 
ple commonly  received  on  authority."  This  insight  they 
professed  to  have  gained  through  certain  secret  traditions 
handed  down  from  Christ,  the  higher  light.  Their  gnosis 
corresponded  to  the  esoteric  doctrines  of  the  old  Greek 
philosophers,  mysteries  to  be  communicated  only  to  the 
initiated.  The  Epistles  of  John  seem  to  have  been  aimed 
in  part  at  this  Gnostic  tendency.  The  true  Christian  know- 
ledge is  as  far  as  possible  both  from  the  obscureness  of  Mys- 
ticism and  from  the  pretensions  of  Clairvoyance.  The  gnosis 
of  the  New  Testament  is  the  privilege  of  all  Christians  alike. 


52  THE   CHEISTIAK  GEACES. 

Christ  and  his  truth  differs  from  the  intellectual 
perception  of  truth,  just'  as  the  feeling  that  we 
know  the  mind  and  heart  of  another  differs 
from  the  knowledge  of  his  person  which  we 
gain  through  the  eye ;  it  is  the  difference  be- 
tween heart  knowledge  and  knowledge  hierelj 
by  perception  or  intellection.  You  are  asked, 
"  Do  you  Tcnow  such  a  person  ?"  "  Yes,"  you 
reply,  "I  know  him,  but  not  intimately." 
This  may  mean  simply  that  you  know  his 
figure,  his  countenance,  his  manner,  and  are 
upon  speaking  terms  with  him; — you  have 
not  merely  a  knowledge  of  his  existence  from 
the  testimony  of  others,  but  a  personal  ac- 
quaintance. Or  your  general  knowledge  of 
this  person  may  go  farther.  You  may  know 
somewhat  minutely  his  mental  characteristics, 
his  peculiarities  of  disposition,  and  his  moral 
habits.  But  if  you  know  these  only  as  ob- 
jects of  thought,  while  these  characteristics 
make  up  your  estimate  of  the  man,  you  do 
not  yet  feel  that  you  know  the  man  himself; 
you  have  not  come  heart  to  heart  with  him. 
"Want  of  intercourse,  or  a  degree  of  reserve, 
has  kept  you  from  becoming  intimate,  so  that 


TENNYSON   AND  ILAXLAM,  53 

while  in  one  sense  you  know  liim,  in  another, 
and  tliis  tlie  most  important  sense,  you  do  not 
know  him.  You  have  an  outward,  superficial 
eye  and  ear  knowledge,  but  nothing  of  that 
knowledge  which  links  soul  to  soul  with  indis- 
soluble ties.  You  do  not  know  him  as  the 
poet  Tennyson  knew  his  friend  Ilallam,  over 
whose  early  death  he  poured  his  sad,  wild 
requiem  in  Memoriam. 

"  Whatever  way  my  days  decline, 
I  felt  and  feel,  though  left  alone, 
His  being  ivorking  in  mine  own  ; 
The  footsteps  of  his  life  in  miney 

Kow  we  may  know  Christ,  and  yet  not 
know  him ;  may  know  him  as  to  his  person 
revealed  as  divine,  the  glory  of  the  Father, 
the  fullness  of  the  Godhead ;  we  may  know 
him  as  to  his  character  recorded  in  the  four 
gospels,  holy,  perfect,  full  of  grace  and  truth ; 
^we  may  know  him  as  to  his  doctrine  and  his 
work,  and  may  accept  these  as  the  highest 
expression  of  divine  truth  and  love  to  man; 
and  still  we  may  come  far  short  of  really  hnow- 
ing  Christ.  Such  knowledge  is  objective ;  i.  e. 
it  exists  in  our  thought  as  cm  object^  and  does 


64  THE   CHEISTIAN   GEACES. 

not  bring  us  into  personal  sympathy  with 
Christ  as  our  Saviour  and.  friend.  It  is  in  the 
brain  but  not  in  the  heart. 

We  may  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the 
'New  Testament ;  may  take  its  representation 
of  the  character  of  Christ  and  the  work  of 
redemption,  and  rest  upon  tliis  as  a  reality; 
but  still  we  may  not  have  that  inward  Know- 
ledge of  Christ,  in  which  the  soul  takes  Jlim 
to  itself,  feels  that  he  is  its  fi-iend,  lays  itself 
open  to  his  love,  with  all  its  sins,  and  wants 
and  cares,  and  realizes  that  he  is  with  it  in  the 
closest  confidence  of  friendship.  Chiist  cha- 
racterizes this  heart  knowledge  when,  in  his 
last  confidential  interview  with  his  disciples  he 
sa^^s  :  "  Henceforth  I  call  you  not  servants ; 
but  I  have  called  you  friends." 

2.  And  here  again,  this  Knowledge  differs 
from  faith.  Faith  is  that  belief  in  Christ 
upon  the  evidence  of  the  Gospels,  which  leads 
the  soul  to  rely  upon  him  as  its  Saviour,  and 
to  commit  itself  to  his  service.  This  faith 
rests  upon  a  degree  of  knowledge  as  its  war- 
rant. It  has  good  and  sufiicient  evidence,  and 
therefore    is    not    credulity   or    superstition. 


HEART  KNOWLEDGE.  55 

Thus  in  the  context  we  read, "  Grace  and  peace 
be  multiplied  to  you  through  the  knowledge 
of  God,  and  of  Jesus  our  Lord ;  according  as 
his  divine  power  hath  given  us  all  things 
that  pertain  to  life  and  godliness  through  the 
Icnowledge  of  him ;"  the  knowledge  of  God  in 
Christ,  of  the  incarnation  and  the  atoning 
death  of  Jesus  as  reconciling  us  to  God  and 
making  life  and  godliness  possible  for  us — this 
is  the  very  foundation  of  a  saving  faith.  But 
having  gained  this  faith,  and  rested  ourselves  in 
it,  we  are  exhorted  to  add  to  it  Knowledge ;  not 
the  mere  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ 
as  a  Saviour — for  that  we  have  already — ^but 
Knowledge  of  Christ  himself,  which  comes 
through  the  heart, proving  his  doctrine,  his  pro- 
mises, his  love,  in  its  own  blessed  experience. 
When  the  Samaritan  woman  returned  from 
Jacob's  well  to  the  city,  telling  what  Jesug 
had  said,  many  believed  upon  her  testimony 
that  he  was  the  Messiah.  But  after  Jesus  had 
spent  two  days  in  their  town,  going  from 
house  to  house,  "many  more  believed,  and 
said  to  the  woman,  ]N"ow  we  believe,  not  be- 
cause of  thy  saying,  for  we  have  heard  him 


56  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

ourselves,  and  Tcnow  that  this  is  indeed  the 
Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world."  We  should 
take  Christ  into  the  house  and  into  the  heart, 
^ill  we  know  Him.  Paul  attained  to  such 
fellowship  with  Christ  that  in  the  hour  of  his 
extremity,  upon  the  verge  of  martyrdom,  he 
could  calmly  say,  "  I  Ttnow  whom  I  have  be- 
lieved, and  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to 
keep  that  which  I  have  committed  to  him 
against  that  day."  Such  Knowledge  is  the 
seizing  upon  Christ  with  the  heart  till  we  know 
that  his  love  and  grace  are  ours,  and  all  his 
promises  are  ours. 

3.  But  this  inward  Knowledge  of  Christ 
has  its  outward  expression  in  a  judgment 
wisely  exercised  upon  i/ruth  and  duty.  Faith 
and  valor  alone  do  not  make  the  complete 
Christian.  "We  may  believe  with  all  the  heart 
that  which  we  regard  as  true ;  we  may  stand 
by  it  firmly  because  we  believe  it  to  be  true ; 
we  may  be  open  in  declaring  our  convictions, 
and  ready  to  take  the  consequences  of  adhering 
to  the  right ;  but  as  men  of  fallible  judgment 
we  are  liable  to  err  in  our  views  of  truth,  to 
mistake  our  duty,  and  to  expend  our  courage 


THE   CHAEGE   OF  BALAKLAVA.  57 

and  fortitude  in  defending  an  error,  or  in 
maintaining  a  point  of  secondary  moment. 
We  need  therefore  to  cultivate  the  judgment 
as  well  as  to  fortify  the  spirit,  to  attain  to  a 
sound  discernment  of  duty  as  well  as  to  firm- 
ness in  duty. 

It  is  a  proverb  that  discretion  is  the  better 
part  of  valor;  a  critical  judgment  as  to  the 
time  and  manner  of  acting  is  important  to  the 
success  of  the  boldest  and  bravest  action. 
I^ever  was  there  a  bolder,  braver  deed  upon 
the  field  of  battle,  than  the  charge  of  six  hun- 
dred English  cavalry  upon  the  Russian  battery 
at  Balaklava.  But  through  lack  of  judgment 
in  the  commander  as  to  the  point  of  assault,  it 
proved  to  be  a  wholesale  sacrifice  of  heroism 
and  life  for  no  adequate  or  even  possible 
object. 

"  Stormed  at  with  shot  and  shell, 
Boldly  they  rode  and  well 
Into  the  jaws  of  death, 
Into  the  mouth  of  hell." 

"Grand,  terrific,  magnificent!"  exclaimed 
the  French  general,  as  the  six  hundred  rode 
right  up  to  that  flaming  rampart  of  'death ; 


68  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

''  but  this  is  not  the  art  of  war."  It  was  not 
the  boldness  that  was  in  fault,  for  the  courage 
for  such  deeds  is  a  strong  element  of  success 
in  war,  but  it  was  the  misapplication  of  bold- 
ness through  want  of  discrimination  in  the 
orders. 

In  his  description  of  the.good  man,  the  Psalm- 
ist happily  combines  a  sound  judgment  with 
boldness  and  firmness  as  essential  qualities  of 
his  character.  "  He  will  guide  his  afiPairs  with 
discretion  y  surely  he  shall  not  le  moved  for- 
ever. His  heart  is  fixed,  trusting  in  the  Lord. 
His  heart  is  established,  he  shall  not  be 
afraid."  A  sound  judgment,  and  a  firm  and 
courageous  heart,  are  here  joined  to  give  com- 
pleteness and  permanence  to  the  good  man's 
character.  And  it  is  this  union  or  combina- 
tion of  qualities  which  supplement  and  regulate 
each  other,  that  the  apostle  intends  when  he 
says,  "  Giving  all  diligence,  add  to  your  Faith 
Virtue,  and  to  Yirtue  Knowledge." 

This  practical  bearing  of  such  Knowledge 
is  difficult  to  express  by  any  one  word  as  a 
synonym.  Our  experimental  Knowledge  of 
Christ,  and  our  habitual  intercourse  of  thought 


PRUDENCE   NOT   KNOWLEDGE.  59 

and  feeling  with  Christ,  should  lead  to  a 
practical  discrimination  on  questions  of  duty. 
Such  Knowledge  is  not  what  men  of  the  world 
call  prudence^  which  is  exercised  more  in  the 
cautious  avoidance  of  evil  to  oneself,  than  in 
devising  and  executing  that  which  is  good. 
Mere  prudence  as  distinguished  from  know- 
ledge and  wisdom,  is  hardly  to  be  classed  wdth 
the  moral  virtues ;  never  rising  higher  than  a 
certain  intellectual  keenness,  it  often  sinks  into 
timidity,  or  runs  into  craft  and  cunning.  But 
this  Knowledge  is  a  sound  practical  wisdom 
growing  out  of  that  inward  critical  discern- 
ment of  truth  and  duty  which  comes  by  know- 
ing Christ. 

Tliere  are  two  or  three  words  which  some- 
what approach  to  this  meaning — discernment, 
discretion,  discrimination ;  these  all  in  their 
radical  idea  mean  "to  separate,"  "to  distin- 
guish," to  "make  a  difference,"  especially 
between  the  true  and  the  false,  the  right  and 
the  wrong,  in  theory  and  in  practice.  This  dis- 
crimination as  to  truths  and  motives  duly 
exercised  by  the  mind  itself,  and  faithfully 
applied  to  our  outward  conduct,  constitutes 


60  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

Knowledge  as  a  practical  thing.  In  addition 
to  faitli  and  firmness,  cultivate  the  faculty  of 
discerning  what  is  truth,  and  the  skill  to  use 
this  in  action.  Add  to  your  Faith  Yirtue,  and 
to  Yirtue  Knowledge.  So  live  in  Christ,  so 
know  Christ  by  an  inWiard  experience,  that 
you  will  act  in  outward  things,  as  Christ  would 
have  you  act. 

II.  How  SHALL  THIS  KNOWLEDGE  BE  ATTAINED? 

How  shall  we  gain  that  experimental  acquaint- 
ance with  Christ  which  shall  guide  the  life  in 
practical  duty  ?^ 

1.  By  the  prayerful  study  of  Christ  as 
he  is  set  hefore  us  in  the  Gospel.  We  must 
learn  Christ  from  the  Scriptures ;  for  there  is 
his  character  transcribed  in  every  feature,  not 
merely  as  it  appeared  to  men,  but  just  as  it 
was,  and  as  the  divine  artist,  inspiring  human 
pens,  has  caused  it  to  be  traced.  But  its 
beauties  do  not  all  come  out  to  the  unassisted 
eye  ;  they  are  spiritually  discerned.  As  in  a 
true  work  of  art,  especially  if  it  be  an  old  pic- 
ture, the  determining  qualities  of  tone,  manner, 
finish,  are  not  superficial,  but  require  study 


THE   AETIST   MONK.  61 

and  a  practised  eye,  so  in  this  one  model  cha- 
racter for  the  world,  this  portrait  of  a  life  so 
far  beyond  all  human  conception  or  deline- 
ation, while  from  any  point  the  impression  is 
that  which  perfection  alone  can  give,  yet  not 
the  whole  of  that  perfection  comes  in  any  one 
impression.     The    mere    tonrist    sauntering 
through  a  gallery  of  art  recognizes  in  one 
painting'  a  work  superior  to  the  rest ;  but  the 
artist  lingers  before  that  picture  and  scans  its 
every  point,  till  without  the  help  of  catalogue 
or  cicerone,  he  discovers  it  to  be  a  Titian,  a 
Tintoretto,  a  Murillo,  and  feasts  his  soul  upon 
those  diviner  touches  that  reveal  the  Master's 
hand.    You  must  not  look  only,  or  read  by 
catalogue   and  note-book,   but  must  study ; 
like  that  artist  monk  who  studied  his  head  of 
Christ  with  prayers  and  vigils  and  spiritual 
agonies,  till  the  canvas  caught  his  unearthly 
inspiration,  and  the  pictured  Christ  was  the 
Christ  within  his  soul.     "  An  inch  deeper  and 
you  find  the  Emperor,"  said  a  wounded  guards- 
man of  ITapoleon   to  the  surgeon  who  was 
probing  a  wound  just  above  his  heart.    The 
Christian  should  have  the  image  of  Christ 
6 


bZ  THE    CHRISTIAN    GRACES. 

transfixed  upon  liis  heart.  Once  introduced 
to  Christ  b  J  Faith,  jou  nrnst  follow  on  to  know 
the  Lord.  Prayer  is  the  life  element  of  such 
a  study.  When  we  enter  into  the  closet  to  con- 
template Christ,  the  Holy  Spirit  takes  of  the 
things  of  Christ,  and  shows  them  to  us. 

2.  We  gain  this  Knowledge  hj  a  diligent  and 
teachahle  seeking  after  the  will  of  Christ.  The 
spirit  of  obedience  helps  to  the  knowledge  of 
duty.  It  is  wonderful  what  light  arises  upon 
practical  questions  which  seemed  doubtful  and 
complicated,  the  moment  the  mind  resolves 
that  it  will  do  the  right  whenever  found ;  that 
it  will  do  the  right,  and  take  the  consequences. 
Then  it  discovers  that  many  of  the  prudential 
and  intellectual  perplexities  supposed  to  exist 
in  the  question  itself,  were  really  the  contro- 
versy of  its  own  selfish  interests  and  passions. 
Tliis  determination  to  do  the  will  of  Christ,  is 
like  a  signal  rocket  piercing  the  gloom  of 
night  from  a  ship  on  an  unknown  shore.  ]^ot 
only  does  it  mark  a  pathway  through  the  dark- 
ness, but  answering  signals  come  from  ofiP  the 
shore,  beacons  are  kindled,  and  a  line  of  light 
guides  her  into  harbor.     Yea,  in  the  storm  of 


CLOSET   STUDY.  63 

doubt  the  Master  comes  walking  on  the  sea, 
saying  to  the  obedient  and  trusting  soul,  "  It 
is  I,  be  not  afraid."  "  He  that  hath  my  com- 
mandments and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that 
loveth  me ;  and  he  that  lovetli  me,  shall  be 
loved  of  my  Father,  and  I  will  love  him,  and 
will  manifest  myself  to  him.  If  a  man  love 
me,  he  will  keep  my  words ;  and  my  Father 
will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  to  him,  and 
make  our  abode  with  him." 

3.  We  gain  this  Knowledge  by  studying 
questions  of  right  and  duty  in  the  closet. 
Most  of  our  practical  mistakes  arise  from 
impulse,  or  from  excessive  confidence  in  our 
own  judgment,  or  from  a  susceptibility  to 
mere  outward  impressions.  How  seldom  do 
we  take  a  question  of  practical  religion  or  of 
personal  duty,  and  study  it  as  we  study  a 
business  venture,  a  political  campaign,  a  ques- 
tion of  science.  We  glance  at  it  and  go  for- 
ward upon  impulse,  or,  upon  first  thought  or 
feeling,  we  pronounce  a  mechanical  stereo- 
typed judgment,  or  we  talk  about  it  and  do  as 
others  say,  taking  their  impulses  and  perhaps 
their  prejudices  for  our  guide.    But  instead 


64:  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

of  talk,  talk,  talk,  upon  questions  of  any  per- 
plexity, we  need  to  think,  think,  think,  and 
to  pray,  pray,  pray.  The  place  for  calm, 
mature  judgment  is  the  place  of  secret  prayer. 
That  judgment  which  is  the  practical  equiva- 
lent of  spiritual  Knowledge,  that  all-penetrating 
sagacity  which  compasses  and  fathoms  its  sub- 
ject in  one  view,  is  gained  only  when  every 
earthly  passion  is  hushed,  when  the  noise  of 
the  camp  is  stilled,  and  the  soul  goes  up  alone 
into  the  mount  with  God.  How  little  would 
there  be  of  error  and  of  diversity  among 
Christians,  if  before  controverting  a  question 
they  would  severally  study  it  in  the  light  of 
prayer.  At  the  base  of  the  mount  they  may 
differ  as  to  the  way ;  but  when  by  different 
routes  they  reach  the  summit,  they  take  in 
the  same  wide  survey. 

4.  "We  may  gain  this  Knowledge  lyteing  will- 
ing to  learn^  and  to  correct  mistakes.  The  key  of 
Knowledge  is  humility.  Were  we  to  name 
the  two  men  in  the  drcle  of  the  Apostles,  who 
gained  the  most  thorough  insight  into  the  life 
and  power  of  Christianity,  and  at  the  same 
time  had  the  most  practical  discernment  in 


KNOWLEDGE   BY   HUMILITY.  65 

its  application,  we  slioiild  name  Jolm  and 
Paul.  I  do  not  speak  of  their  inspired  writings, 
but  of  tlie  characteristics  of  the  men.  'Now 
these  both  were  as  remarkable  for  their  hu- 
mility as  for  their  wisdom ;  John  always  sup- 
pressing his  own  name  in  the  Gospel  narrative, 
and  keeping  himself  in  the  background ;  Paul 
not  counting  himself  to  have  apprehended,  nor 
as  already  perfect,  but  pressing  towards  the 
mark,  and  seeking  the  full  knowledge  of  God 
in  Christ.  Bacon  testifies  that  if  he  had 
accomplished  anything  for  the  advancement 
of  knowledge,  "  what  led  to  it  was  a  true  and 
genuine  humiliation  of  mind."  The  oppressive 
sense  of  the  height,  depth,  length,  and  breadth 
of  Knowledge  in  Christ,  kept  Paul  always 
humble  as  to  his  attainment,  always  aspiring 
as  to  his  aims.  And  this  same  sense  of  imper- 
fection, of  littleness,  of  almost  nothingness  in 
our  actual  Knowledge,  and  of  fullness,  vast- 
ness,  infinity  itself  in  Christ,  would  keep  us 
ever  willing,  yes,  eager  to  learn ;  so  that  we 
should  profit  even  by  our  own  errors  and  mis- 
takes, making  these  a  help  through  grace  to 
a  higher  wisdom. 

6* 


6Q  THE   CHKTSTIAN   GRACES. 


5.  We  may  cultivate  this  Knowledge  hy  often 
testing  ourselves  hy  our  jprincijples.  If  we  were 
careful  to  keep  a  daily  balance-sheet  of  our 
actions  and  principles,  we  should  be  more  quick 
to  detect  errors  of  judgment,  and.  to  increase  our 
stock  of  practical  wisdom.  K  we  were  careful 
always  to  test  our  motives  by  our  principles, 
we  should  gain  more  of  that  heart-knowledge 
which  prepares  us  for  the  fuller  Knowledge 
of  Christ.  The  heart  that  would  know  Christ 
must  know  itself;  must  know  its  weakness  to 
estimate  his  strength;  must  know  its  sin  to 
value  his  grace ;  must  know  its  ignorance  to 
desire  his  light ;  must  know  by  repeated  fail- 
ures and  disappointments  its  own  folly,  in 
order  to  appreciate  his  wisdom. .  If  we  would 
grow  in  that  inward  Knowledge  which  gives 
practical  wisdom,  we  should  not  only  pre- 
examine  questions  of  duty  by  the  test  of 
prayer,  but  should  re-examine  actions  by  the 
test  of  principle. 

True  principle  is  a  fixed  quantity.  It  rests 
upon  the  eternal  base  of  truth  and  justice,  and 
is  firm  as  the  pillars  of  heaven.  As  the  old 
Egyptians  took  their  astronomical    bearings 


THE  DIGNITY   OF  KNOWLEDGE.  67 

from  tlie  sun-line  npon  the  pyramid,  so  should 
we  take  our  moral  bearings  by  the  light  of 
Christ's  teaching  and  life,  giving  the  meridian 
line  of  principle  and  duty. 

in.  The  excellency  of  this  knowledge  in 

ITS  EFFECTS. 

1.  This  Knowledge  combined  with,  firmness 
infaith^  gives  heauty  and  dignity  to  character. 
Tlie  apostle  enumerates  virtues  and  graces 
which  in  their  combination  make  the  complete 
Christian.  And  while  discussing  each  in  its 
order,  with  a  view  to  come  at  its  precise  signi- 
ficance, we  must  not  overlook  their  relations 
to  each  other  as  one  family  of  virtues,  or  in 
the  figure  of  the  text,  as  one  choir  of  graces 
marshalled  around  Faith  as  their  leader.  We 
have  seen  that  Virtue  gives  energy,  strength, 
resolve;  but  a  character  in  which  force  and 
earnestness  predominate,  is  one-sided;  may 
easily  run  into  extremes.  Knowledge  pre- 
siding over  the  purposes  amd  feelings  of  the 
soul,  that  Knowledge  of  Christ  which  intro- 
duces him  as  our  counsellor  and  guide,  imparts 
to  the  mind  a  calm  dignity,  which,  when 


DO  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

added  to  Yirtue,  increases  strength.  "We  feel 
instinctively  the  weight  and  dignity  of  one, 
who,  while  firm  in  his  convictions,  and  reso- 
lute in  his  purposes,  shows  a  wide  and  candid 
comprehension  of  the  sphere  in  which  he  is 
called  to  act,  and  forms  his  purposes  in  the 
serenity  of  unimpassioned  judgment.  ~  How 
much  of  the  majesty  of  Jesus  lay  in  the  fact 
that  he  knew  all  things,  and  needed  not  that 
that  any  should  tell  him  what  was  in  man. 

2.  This  Knowledge  gives  us  jpower  over  our- 
selves. Man  was  created  a  Power,  and  not  a 
Thing.  A  thing  moves  and  acts  only  under  a 
necessary  law  of  cause  and  effect;  a  powei 
acts  by  will  through  choice,  and  is  "  able  to 
originate  new  trains  of  effects."*  But  man's 
power  over  things,  his  power  over  nature,  lies 
not  in  superior  force,  but  in  that  Ivnowledg'e 
which  gives  him  command  of  natural  princi- 
ples and  laws  for  his  own  advantage.  Till  he 
gains  this  Knowledge,  he  is  himself  but  the 
slave  of  material  forces,  the  dependent  and 
drudge  of  nature.     But  with  all  his  knowledge 

*  See  this  distinction  finely  wrought  out  in  Dr.  Bushnell's 
"Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  pp.  85-90. 


TIIE   MEN   OF   ISSACHAB.  69 

of  nature  and  power  over  her,  man  may  still 
be  the  slave  of  lusts  and  passions  and  whims 
if  he  does  not  know  the  truth,  if  he  does  not 
know  Christ.  The  Truth  makes  free;  and 
Christ  entering  the  soul  as  a  regenerating 
power,  gives  it  dominion  over  the  body, 
dominion  over  self.  In  proportion  as  the  soul 
gains  a  true  spiritual  power  over  its  inferior 
desires,  does  it  become  a  power  over  the 
world 

3.  This  Knowledge  gives  usjpowerfor  good 
<md  even  great  achievements.  It  is  no  modern 
discovery  that "  knowledge  is  power."  That  is 
a  noteworthy  saying  concerning  the  men  of 
Issachar; — ^when  the  armies  of  David  were 
gathered  at  Hebron,  after  the  warriors  of  other 
tribes  had  been  spoken  of  as  expert  in  war, 
mighty  men  of  valor,  it  is  said  that  "  the  child- 
ren of  Issachar  were  men  that  had  under- 
standing of  the  times,  to  know  what  Israel 
ought  to  do,  and  all  their  brethren  were  at 
their  commandment."  The  army  with  all  its 
strength  and  numbers  and  valor,  required  a 
head,  and  that  head  was  with  the  men  who 
"had  understanding  of  the  times,  to  Jcnow 


70  THE   CHEISTIAN    GEACES. 

what  to  do."  Bravery  and  sagacity.  Virtue 
and  Knowledge  must  go  together.  Know- 
ledge, so  far  from  repressing  courage,  animates 
it.  Sometimes  one  seems  rash  in  the  very 
boldness  of  his  strokes ;  when  in  reality  he  is 
far-sighted,  and  perceives  that  the  crisis  de- 
mands sudden  and  decisive  movements.  'Na- 
poleon's  campaigns,  conceived  with  such 
daring,  and  executed  with  such  startling 
rapidity,  were  not  ventures  of  fortune,  but  were 
planned  in  midnight  studies  over  maps  and 
charts ;  and  every  road,  stream,  valley,  hamlet, 
wood,  was  in  his  mind  before  he  set  foot  upon 
the  battle-ground.  He  failed  at  Waterloo,  not 
for  lack  of  foresight,  but  because  his  plans 
and  orders  were  not  executed  by  others  as 
conceived  and  mapped  in  his  brain.  In  the 
great  conflict  waging  for  truth  'and  right, 
those  whose  innermost  Knowledge  of  Christ 
makes  them  as  quick  to  perceive,  as  they  are 
resolute  to  act,  will  take  the  lead  and  win  the 
day. 

4.  This  Knowledge  of  Christ  gives  usjpower 
over  evil  and  over  death.  ^  It  is  half  the  bat- 
tle to  know  the  enemy,  his  ground,  his  re- 


POWER   OVER   DEATH.  71 

sources,  and  liis  tactics.  "What  we  fear  in  the 
dark,  we  may  laugh  at  when  daylight  comes. 
So  long  as  death  could  wrap  himself  in  gloom 
and  silence,  he  kept  the  world  in  bondage 
through  fear.  But  since  Christ  hath  burst  the 
bars  of  death  and  opened  wide  the*  grave,  and 
showed  it  to  be  the  camping-ground  of  angels, 
and  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light, 
death  hath  no  more  power  over  souls  that 
know  the  Lord.  They  go  down  into  the  grave 
singing,  "  I  know  that  my  Kedeemer  liveth." 

"  With  a  glad  and  fearless  mien, 
Should  a  Christian  man  be  seen, 

Wheresoe'er  be  cast  his  lot. 
Yea,  though  death  seem  close  at  hand, 
Calm  and  quiet  let  him  stand, 

And  his  spirit  tremble  not. 

"Fount  of  joy,  my  Lord  divine, 
Thine  I  am,  and  Thou  art  mine. 

Naught  can  tear  Thee  from  my  heart ; 
Bring  me,  bring  me  to  that  place. 
Where  enclasped  in  Thine  embrace, 
I  shall  know  Thee  as  Thou  arV 

Say  not,  brethren, "  such  knowledge  of  Christ 
is  too  wonderful  for  me ;  it  is  high,  I  cannot 
attain  to  it."  High  it  is  above  all  earthly 
wisdom — above  all  the  philosophy  of  man ; — 


72  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

but  that  whicli  none  of  the  princes  of  this 
world  knew,  Christ  will  give  to  the  least  of 
his  disciples.  It  is  the  Knowledge  of  Himself, 
and  this  He  gives  alWajs  to  prayerful  seeking. 
Give  all  diligence  to  gain  it.  Add  to  Yirtue 
Knowledge.  Seek  to  know  Christ.  Study  to 
know  Christ;  to  know  Him  by  ptayer;  to 
know  Him  in  the  written  word;  to  know 
Him  by  a  daily  trust ;  to  know  Him  by  that 
inward  experience  of  his  grace  and  truth  and 
love,  which  is  eternal  life.  "Beware,  lest 
being  led  away  with  the  error  of  the  wicked, 
ye  fall  from  your  own  steadfastness.  But  grow 
in  grace,  and  in  the  Knowledge  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  To  Him  be  glory, 
both  now  and  forever.    Amen." 


LECTURE    III. 
TEMPERAJSTCE. 

And  to  Knowledge,  tempkrance. — 2  Peter  i.  6. 

HIS  is  the  third  figure  in  tliat  sum  in 
compound  addition,  the  footing  up  of 
which  makes  the  complete  Christian 
character.  Though  the  virtues  and 
graces  here  enumerated  are  of  difibrent 
denominations  and  values,  everj  one  of  them 
is  not  only  important,  but  indispensable  to  a 
correct  result.  The  distinction  between  some 
of  these  traits  may  seem  merely  verbal ;  but 
upon  analysis,  we  find  that  each  word  conveys 
a  separate  and  important  thought,  a  distinc- 
tion which  the  mind  should  dwell  upon  till  it 
has  become  fixed'  as  a  trait  to  be  studied  and 
cultivated  in  ourselves. 

If  we  could  but  carry  on  this  addition  in 
our  hearts  as  rapidly  aS  we  can  make  it  in  our 
thought  and  speech,  we  should  soon  grow  to 

Y  73 


74  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

be  substantial  and  complete  Christians.  And 
surely  while  studying  this  text  as  to  its  mean- 
ing, we  ought  to  be  making  these  virtues  our 
own — strengthening  and  improving  what  we 
already  possess,  and  seeking  to  develop  what 
we  have  hitherto  neglected.  Every  virtue  in 
the  list  should  be  cultivated  by  every  Christ- 
ian ;  and  so  cultivated  that  each  shall  have  its 
due  place  and  proportion  in  the  character. 
Have  you,  then,  renewed  your  diligence  in 
cultivating  a  manly  regard  for  truth  and  duty  ? 
Are  you  adding  to  your  Faith  the  firm  deter- 
mination to  obey  God,  to  do  always  and 
without  shrinking  that  which  a  conscience 
enlightened  by  his  w^ord  requires  ?  And  with 
this  Yirtuous  persistence  in  truth  and  duty, 
and  in  order  that  this  may  never  become  a 
misguided  and  excessive  zeal,  are  you  at  the 
same  time  seeking  that  inward  personal  Know- 
ledge of  Christ  which  shall  guide  you  by  his 
Spirit  in  doing  his  will? — that  Knowledge, 
which  by  elevating  the  soul  into  the  calm, 
pure  regions  of  spiritual  light,  quickens  its 
discernment  of  practical  duty,  and  leads  it 
whither   Christ   would    have  it  go?    While 


SELF-CONTEOK  75 

Virtue  makes  us  active,  open,  strenuous,  bold, 
firm,  whenever  truth  requires  this  manifesta- 
tion at  our  hands.  Knowledge  makes  us  clear, 
calm,  considerate,  discerning  as  to  what  should 
be  done  or  avoided  for  the  glory  of  God,  and 
the  best  good  of  our  fellow-men. 

To  these  virtues,  the  apostle  bids  us  add 
TEMPEEAi^^CE.  Our  modcm  use  of  this  word 
restricts  it  mainly  to  abstinence  from  strong 
drink,  making  temperance  the  opposite  of 
drunkenness,  or  of  any  excess  in  the  use  of 
intoxicating  drinks  or  drugs.  In  the  old 
English,  however,  this  word  had  special  refer- 
ence to  chastity  or  continence  ;  and  the  original 
term  has  a  still  wider  meaning,  denoting  the 
control  of  all  the  appetites  and  passions. 
Abstinence  alone  does  not  fully  express  the 
idea,  since  this  presents  rather  its  negative 
side.  The  word  means  strictly  "  ruling  with 
a  strong  hand,"  having  the  mastery ;  and 
when  applied  to  a  person,  the  temperate  man 
is  he  who  governs  himself  firmly,  who  has  the 
mastery  especially  over  the  passions  and  appe- 
tites of  his  lower  nature.  Tem]3erance  is  Self- 
control,  "an  entire  command  over  our  passions 


76  THE   CHEISTIAN    GRACES. 

and  desires,  so  that  tliey  receive  no  further 
allowance  than  the  law  of  God  admits,"  and 
reason  and  conscience,  enlightened  by  that 
law,  approve.*    Let  ns  now  inquire — 

I.   What  this    self-contkol    involves  or 

IMPLIES. 

*  ^EyKpuTeta  [engkrateia)  is  used  by  Plato  aud  Aristotle  ^o 
express  self -discipline,  self-mastery.  Xenophoii  uses  it  to 
express  the  government  of  all  the  passions  and  appetites ; 
such  a  mastery  of  the  natural  desires  for  food,  drink,  and 
sensual  gratification,  and  such  a  power  to  endure  cpld,  heat, 
fatigue,  and  want  of  sleep,  as  ^)econie  a  good  general  in 
time  of  war.  (Mem.  1.  2,  1 ;  1.  6,  1 ;  2.  1,  1.)  So  Paul  used 
the  word  when  addressing  Felix,  who  lived  in  open  adultery 
with  Drusilla,  and  who  indulged  every  selfish  and  sensual 
passion ;  *'  he  reasoned  of  righteousness,  temperance,  and 
judgment,"  till  the  wretch  trembled. 

Passow  translates  eyKpdreia  by  Selbstbeherrschung,  self- 
government  ;  and  Mdssigung  in  Sinnengenilssen,  moderation 
in  sensual  enjoyments. 

The  Latin  temperaiitia,  from  which  our  word  temperance 
is  derived,  has  the  same  meaning ;  moderation,  regulation, 
government,  self-restraint.  And  it  is  applied  not  only  to 
sensual  appetites,  but  to  the  government  of  the  tongue,  the 
eyes,  the  temper ;  to  the  restraint  of  the  emotions  of  grief 
under  calamity  or  of  exultation  in  victory,  (Georges).  Cicero 
defines  temperantia  to  be  that  which  teaches  us  to  follow 
reason,  both  in  what  we  seek  and  in  what  we  avoid ;  a  firm 
and  judicious  control  of  reason  over  impulse  and  desire. 
(De  Finibus  1,  14,  and  2,  19.) 


SINFUL   HABITS.  77 

n.  By  what  means  it  may  be  attained. 

1.  This   Christian  Temperance  or  self-con- 
trol implies  and  demands  the  absolute  suhjec- 
tion  of  all  evil  appetites,  passions^  and  desires. 
Sin,  in  its  radical  idea,  pertains  to  a  state  of 
the  Will,  as  contrary  to  or  alien  from  the  will 
of  God.     But  this  willful  alienation  from  God, 
this  voluntary  self-seeking,  this  supreme  love 
of  self  or  of  the  world — by  whatever  name 
we    characterize   it   as  a  principle — acts    in 
every  individual,  mainly  through  some  par- 
ticular form  or  forms  of  carnal  or  worldly  de- 
sire which  become  prominent  as  specific  sins 
or  sinful  habits ;  and  like   certain  venomous 
creatures  whose  parts  continue  to  move  and 
to  give  out  poison  even  after  the  head  is  cut 
off,  these  habits,  impregnated  with  the  virus  of 
the  sinning  will,  retain  their  vitality  and  their 
power  of  evil  long  after  the  will  itself  is 
changed  in  its  supreme  and  permanent  direc- 
tion.    Hence,  while  in  urging  men  to  repent, 
the  Bible'  lays  stress  upon   the   change  of 
heart,  mind,  will,  purpose — a  change  of  the 
voluntary  state  of  the  man — as  the  radical, 
essential,  and  comprehensive   thing;  it  also 


78  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

exhorts  those  who  have  made  this  radical 
change  of  purpose  and  life,  to  subdue  specific 
sins  which  have  acquired  in  them  the  force  of 
habit.  The  epistles  of  Paul  addressed  for  .the 
most  part  to  persons,  who,  before  conversion, 
had  lived  in  all  the  vices  and  corruptions  of 
heathen  society,  abound  in  exhortations  and 
warnings  against  specific  sins.  Tlius  he  writes 
to  the  Ephesians :  "Be  not  drunk  with  wine, 
wherein  is  excess;"  "fornication,  uncleanness, 
or  covetousness,  let  it  not  be  once  named 
among  you,  as  becometh  saints ;"  and  to  the 
Corinthians  he  says,  "  I  bewail  many  which 
have  sinned  already,  and  have  not  repented 
of  the  lasciviousness  which  they  have  com- 
mitted." 

Those  grosser  social  vices  with  which  the 
pagan  society  of  the  old  world  was  tho- 
roughly infected,  and  w^hich  the  old  pagan 
religion  encouraged — vices  which  destroyed 
home,  corrupted  literature,  debased  art,  and 
defiled  the  altars  of  the  gods — were  so  little 
thought  of  as  evils,  were  so  fully  sanctioned 
by  custom,  were  so  gilded  over  by  the  exam- 
ple of  public  men,  the  toleration  of  law,  and 


SENSUAL  INDULGENCE.  Y9 

the  flattering  arts  of  genius,  were  so  protected 
by  the  priests,  who  made  them  a  means  of 
revenue,  that  it  was  an  easy  thing  for  a  Christ- 
ian at  Corinth,  at  Ephesus,  at  Antioch,  or 
any  like  luxurious  capital,  to  slide  into  sins 
the  bare  suggestion  of  which  we  should  re- 
sent with  abhorrence.  Paul  recognizes  as 
Christians,  the  children  of  God,  the  followers 
of  Christ,  those  whom  he  warns  so  earnestly 
against  specific  and  grievous  sins.  As  he 
writes  to  the  Romans, — "  "When  we  were  in 
the  flesh" — ^living  for  mere  self-gratification, 
"  the  motions  of  sin  did  work  in  our  members," 
incitements  to  sin  wrought  upon  us  through 
the  natural  appetites;  wherefore,  he  says, 
"  Let  not  sin  reign  in  your  mortal  body,  that 
ye  should  obey  it  in  the  lusts  thereof ;  neither 
j-ield  ye  your  members  as  instruments  [or 
agents]  of  unrighteousness  unto  sin."  In  the 
same  tone  he  says  again,  "  if  ye  live  after  the 
flesh  ye  shall  die  ;"  if  you  make  the  gratifica- 
tion of  natural  appetites  and  tastes,  and  car- 
nal desires,  your  aim  in  life,  you  shall  lose 
the  life  of  your  soul ;  "  but  if  ye  through  the 
spirit,  do  mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body,  ye 


80  THE   CHEI8TUN   GRACES. 

shall  live.  Mortify,  therefore,  your  mem- 
bers which  are  upon  the  earth.  They  that 
are  Christ's  have  crucified  the  flesh,  with  the 
aflfections  and  lusts."  Such  language  ad- 
dressed to  Christians,  shows  that  over  and 
above  that  surrendering  of  the  will  to  God, 
which  is  conversion ;  that  yielding  uj)  the  soul 
to  Christ  in  trustful  obedience,  w^hicli  is  faith ; — 
over  and  beyond  this  there  is  a  work  of  self- 
subjection,  with  regard  to  specific  passions, 
habits,  and  desires,  which  every  Christian 
must  labor  to  achieve  in  himself.  Tlie  apos- 
tle describes  this  by  such  words  as  "  mortify," 
"  crucify,"  which  show  that  this  work  of  con- 
quering particular  passions  or  habits  of  evil 
requires  severe  and  painful  effort.  Precisely 
this  conquest,  even  to  the  destruction  of  every 
evil  habit,  is  required  in  that  Temperance 
which  the  text  enjoins.  It  is  ruling  such  pas- 
sions with  a  strong  hand^  subduing  and  keep- 
ing them  under  effectually,  w^hich  makes  the 
self-control  of  the  Christian.  Tliat  self-con- 
trol is  not  complete  till  every  passion  or  ten- 
dency in  its  nature  to  evil,  is  not  barely  re- 
strained, or  brought  within   bounds,  but  is 


ANGEB.  81 

put  down  and  i  mastered,   so   as  to  rise  no 
more. 

Anger,  in  the  common  use  of  the  word,  is 
an  evil  passion.  While  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  a  virtuous  indignation  against  outrage  and 
wrong,  a  holy  indignation  at  sin,  yet  by  anger 
we  mean  a  violent  passion  or  excitement  of 
mind  on  account  of  injury,  real  or  supposed, 
attended  wdth  a  feeling  of  resentment,  a  desire 
to  retaliate  upon  the  offender.  I^ow  such'  a 
passion  is  evil,  and  only  evil ;  and  self-control 
requires  its  absolute  subjection.  An  excitable 
temperament,  or  a  passionate  habit  of  mind, 
allowed  in  youth,  may  palliate  in  the  Christ- 
ian occasional  freaks  or  outbreaks  of  passion, 
so  long  f  s  he  is  conscientiously  and  earnestly 
endeavoring  to  conquer  his  propensity  to 
anger ;  but  this  cannot  serve  him  as  a  stand- 
ing pretext  for  the  indulgence  of  this  passion. 
It  is  his  duty  to  subdue  it ;  to  govern  his  tem- 
per. It  is  not  enough  that  he  should  be  sorry 
after  anger,  and  willing  to  humble  himself  by 
confession;  it  is  not  enough  that  he  should 
deprecate  this  as  an  infirmity ;  it  is  not  enough 
that  he  should  learn  to  bite  his  lips  and  curb 


82  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

his  tongue  while  he  is  choking  with  rage 
within ;  he  must  so  master  temper  and  tem- 
perament that  he  shall  hold  the  passion  of 
anger  in  complete  subjection,  never  suffering 
it  to  rise.  A  passionate  man  cannot  exercise 
self-control  till  he  has  gained  that  conquest. 
Some  ancient  philosophers  used  the  word 
Temperance  as  the  specific  opposite  of  irrita- 
bility.* 

Self-indulgence  in  ajppetite,  whether  under 
the  form  of  drunkenness  or  of  gluttony,  is  a 
sin.  It  is  a  sin  against  the  body,  whose 
beautiful  mechanism  we  strain  and  impair  by 
any  excess.  It  is  an  offence  against  the  mind, 
whose  faculties  we  clog  and  stupefy,  by  excess 
of  food  or  drink,  or  derange  by  an  uiinatural 
stimulus,  and  whose  lawful  dominion  over 
the  body  is  usurped  and  dishonored  whenever 
an  appetite  gains  the  ascendency  over  reason. 
It  is  a  sin  against  God,  the  gifts  of  whose 
bounty  are  perverted,  when  used  as  if  appe- 
tite were  the  chief  thing  to  be  consulted. 
"Ye  ask   and  receive  not,   because  ye  ask 

*  See  in  Passow — Mdsslgung ;  comp.  in  Fliigel. 


C0VET0ITSNES8.  83 

amiss,  tliat   ye  may   consume   it  upon  your 
lusts." 

GovetousnesSj  is  specified  again  and  again  in 
tlie  word  of  God  as  one  of  the  worst  forms  of 
carnal  passion ;  and  the  subjection  of  this  is 
indispensable    to    self-government.       Hardly 
any  passion  so  blinds  its  victims,  so  insinuates 
itself  into  every  thought  and  plan  of  life,  so 
paves  the  way  for  all  that  is  unlovely  in  spirit 
and  evil  in  practice.     Hence  the  Bible  always 
puts  the  covetous  man  in  the  worst  possible 
company.      "Mortify  your  members  which 
are  upon  the  earth ;    fornication,  uncleanli- 
ness,  inordinate  affection,  evil  concupiscence, 
and  Govetousness    which  is    idolai/ryP     Our 
blessed  Lord  has  taught  us  that  "out  of  an  evil 
heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,  adulteries,  forni- 
cations, murders,  thefts,  covetousness^  wicked- 
ness, deceit ;"  and  with  solemn  emphasis  he 
warns  us,  "  Take  heed,  and  beware  of  covetr 
ousnessP  The  greed  of  gain  must  be  subdued, 
or  it  will  choke  the  life  of  Godliness  in  the 
soul.    The  Christian  must  learn  to  moderate 
his  views  and  desires  of  worldly  possessions. 
If  he  finds  the  least  disposition  to  count  upon 


84:  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

tliese  as  his  portion,  if  he  finds  himself  han- 
kering after  more  and  more  of  this  world's 
good,  he  must  give  himself  no  rest  till  he  con- 
quer that  passion,  or  it  will  conquer,  and- 
degrade,  and  destroy  his  soul. 

The  tendency  to  a  self-satisfied  and  even 
luxuriates  enjoyment  of  the  worlds  is  perhaps 
the  strongest  antagonist  in  our  times  to  a  sim- 
ple scriptural  piety.  The  grosser  vices  which 
were  tolerated  and  even  sanctioned  in  the  best 
society  of  Greece  and  Eome,  and  which  are 
constantly  referred  to  in  the  apostolic  letters, 
have  been  so  thoroughly  branded  by  Christ- 
ianity, that  they  are  outlawed  by  the  code  of 
our  civilization.  Yet  the  propensity  to  self- 
indulgence  in  the  world,  is  not  subdued ;  but 
rather  whetted  by  the  refinements  of  modern 
luxury.  The  world  is  still  a  tempter  and  a 
snare  to  whatever  soul  may  incline  towards  it 
for  its  satisfaction.  "  All  that  is  in  the  world, 
the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes, 
and  the  pride  of  life,  is  not  of  the  Father ; 
but  is  of  the  world."  Sensual  appetite, 
pleasure-seeking  for  its  own  sake,  and  frivo- 
lity in  the  methods  of  enjoyment,  a  vain  love 


LOVE  OF  THE  WOELD.  85 

of  pomp  and  show,  these  proceed  from  a  pro- 
pensity wliich  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the 
love  of  God — these  must  be  conquered  if  the 
soul  would  give  itself  unconditionally  to  the 
love  of  the  Father.  Here  lies  the  test  of  piety 
in  our  times.  Clothed  in  better  raiment  than 
adorned  the  court  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  living 
in  more  sumptuous  abodes  than  were  the 
palaces  of  England  three  centuries  ago,  living 
in  a  society  which  makes  the  pomp  of  furni- 
ture and  the  richness  of  entertainments  the 
test  of  social  worth,  and  which  even  uses  reli- 
gion as  an  auxiliary  to  fashion,  we  are  called 
upon  to  preserve  the  unaffected  simplicity  of 
the  Gospel,  and  to  keep  ourselves  "  unspotted 
from  the  world."  Here  it  is  that  the  Christian 
of  to-day  has  most  need  of  Temperance ;  Yir- 
tue  to  assert  his  faith ;  knowledge  to  discern 
his  duty;  and  a  rigid  and  watchful  Control 
over  those  propensities  toward  pleasure  and 
pride  which  would  bring  him  under  the  domi- 
nion of  the  god  of  this  world. 

2.  Besides  this  absolute  subjection  of  all 
evil  passions  and  propensities,   the  law  of 
Temperance  requires  that  those  natural  dcr 
8 


86  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

sires  which  are  in  themselves  innocent  and  law- 
ful^ should^  hoth  as  to  the  tnanner  and  the  mea- 
sure of  their  indulgence^  he  regulated  hy  a  re- 
ga/rdfor  the  highest  good  of  the  soul.  Appetites 
and  tastes  we  have,  which  were  never  designed 
to  be  our  tempters  and  tormentors — ^making 
the  body  a  mere  battle-field  of  the  soul — but 
were  meant  to  minister  to  a  pure  and  healthy 
enjoyment.  But  the  peculiarity  of  these 
native  appetites  and  tastes  in  man,  is,  that 
they  do  not,  like  the  instincts  of  animals,  regu- 
late themselves,  but  require  the  mild  restraint 
of  reason.  Hence  the  Christian  law  of  Mode- 
ration, an  enlightened  regard  for  the  soul's 
highest  welfare,  must  control ,  the  measure 
and  the  method  of  all  lower  gratifications.  A 
person  who,  on  medical  advice,  had  begun 
the  daily  use  of  wine,  being  accidentally  de- 
prived of  it,  felt  such  a  hankering  for  its 
exhilaration,  that  he  took  the  alarm,  and  at 
once  abandoned  it,  choosing  rather  to  sufier  a 
physical  infirmity  than  to  endanger  his  self- 
control.  That  is  a  nice  point — a  hair-line — 
where  Desire  instead  of  ministering  to  rational 
enjoyment,  oversteps  the  bounds  of  reason, 


NO   CONDITIONAL  LOVE.  87 

and  becomes  an  ungovernable  passion.     Keep 
well  within  tbat  line. 

3.  It  has  been  assumed  in  this  discussion, 
that  since  all  sin  concentrates  in  a  selfish  Will, 
this  of  course  must  be  subdued  in  order  to  a 
sound  and  perfect  self-control.  But  I  wish  to 
insist,  for  a  moment,  upon  the  idea  that  self- 
ishness is  not  merely  to  be  restrained,  mode- 
rated, held  in  check  bj  compromises,  but  to 
be  conquered,  if  ever  the  soul  would  gain  the 
mastery  of  itself  for  God.  Our  love  of  God, 
to  be  complete,  must  be  unconditional.  The 
moment  we  attempt  to  condition  it  upon  what 
He  may  be  willing  to  do  for  us,  it  ceases  to  be 
love,  and  becomes  a  mere  mercenary  passion. 
"What  should  we  think  of  a  child  who  should 
make  his  love  for  his  father  for  the  day,  de- 
pend upon  his  father's  giving  him  this  or  that 
which  his  fancy  might  covet,  or  his  appetite 
crave  ;  and  should  withhold  his  kiss  of  affec- 
tion, until  he  should  see  what  gain  the  day 
would  bring  to  him  ?  The  existence  of  this 
calculating,  selfish  spirit  is  incompatible  with 
the  vpry  idea  of  love.  Till  we  have  put  down 
all  self-seeking,  so  as  to  say  to-day,  ana  to-mor- 


88 


THE   CHEISTIAN   GEACES. 


row,  and  always,  and  nnflinchinglj, — "Thy 
will  not  mine  be  done," — we  have  not  con- 
quered ourselves  for  God. 

II.  Tliis  virtue  of  Temperance,  or  self-con- 
trol, we  are  commanded  to  cultivate,  with  all 
diligence.      Let  us   now    inquire,   therefore, 

HOW  SHALL  rr  BE  ATTALNED  ? 

1.  Not  ly  mere  force  of  will,  determining 
to  override,  and  if  possible  to  annihilate  the 
sensibilities  and  propensities  of  our  nature, 
whether  fpr  good  or  evil.  The  cold  impas- 
siveness  of  marble  is  not  self-control ;  nor  can 
the  Christian  perfect  his  moral  nature  by  cut- 
ting away  all  natural  emotions  and  sympa- 
thies, and  carving  his  soul  into  a  statue,  to  be 
mounted  upon  an  iron  pedestal,  and  to  look 
always  in  one  direction.  If  Washington  him- 
self had  been  a  statue,  we  should  never  have 
erected  a  statue  of  "Washington.  If  his  soul 
had  been  of  brass,  his  self-control  would  never 
have  impressed  us,  as  it  now  does,  with  the 
magisterial  dignity  of  his  character.  The 
stern,  cold,  iron  discipline  of  the  ancient  stoic 
and  of  the  modern  Buddhist,  hardening  the 


STOICISM  NOT  TEMPERANCE.  89 

mind  to  an  unnatural  insensibility  to  pleasure 
or  pain  from  without,  has  nothing  in  common 
with  Christian  self-control.  One  may  conquer 
many  an  appetite  and  passion  by  mere  force  of 
will,  and  in  so  doing  may  strengthen  the  will 
itself  in  resistance  to  God,  and  may  stiffen  that 
will  with  the  pride  of  self-righteousness. 

The  philosophy  of  this  stoical  indifference  to 
natural  desire,  is  as  far  from^he  philosophy  of 
Christian  self-government,  as  is  the  crank  that 
moves  the  springs  and  wires  of  an  automaton, 
from  the  soul  that  moves  the  nerves  and  mus- 
cles of  the  man.  One  who  refused  to  govern  his 
appetites  by  the  moral  law,  may  be  rendered 
very  temperate  by  a  fit  of  the  gout ;  but  we  do 
not  feel  that  his  coerced  abstinence  by  mere 
force  of  will,  under  pressure  of  danger,  is 
Christian  self-control ;  for  when  the  twinge  of 
pain  is  over,  the  will  relaxes,  and  appetite 
again  has  sway.  Not  abstinence  alone,  through 
some  stern,  intellectual  or  medical  philoso- 
phy, but  the  control  of  self  by  the  love  of 
God,  is  the  true  Temperance. 

2.  Neither  is  self-control  to  be  attained  by  the 
a/rbiira/ry  moTtification  of  the  hody,  ly  means 
8* 


90  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

of  denials  and  penances.  Christianity  was 
not  made  for  the  desert  and  the  convent,  "but 
for  the  living  and  hostile  world ;  and  we  are 
not  to  become  saints  by  secluding  ourselves 
from  the  outer  world,  but  are  to  he  saints  in 
it,  by  the  power  of  a  new  life.  Tlie  experi- 
ment of  monkery,  of  celibacy  under  a  vow,  of 
hermit  life,  away  from  the  haunts  of  men,  as 
a  means  of  proi*)ting  personal  holiness,  has 
resulted  either  in  a  morbid  Pietism,  a  bigoted 
Fanaticism,  or  a  gross  Sensuality  of  life. 
The  monk  and  the  hermit  subsisting  on 
scanty  fare,  and  mortifying  the  body  by  hard 
usage  and  voluntary  tortures,  kave  not  con- 
quered pride  and  self-will,  have  not  thus  sub- 
dued Satan  within  them — ^have  even  made 
new  devils  out  of  phantoms — ^have  not  always 
even  conquered  the  lusts  of  the  flesh.  The 
gross  and  monstrous  "  chambers  of  imagery  " 
still  to  be  seen  in  old  Egyptian  temples — as  at 
Dendera — were  transcripts  of  the  pent  ima- 
ginations and  passions  of  priests  who  devised 
them,  and  of  later  monks  who  inherited  them. 
A  vivid  writer  who  has  reproduced  the  era  of 
Christian  monkery  in  Egypt,  rightly  combines 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER.  91 

a  fanatical  outward  abstemiousness  with  the 
cravings  of  morbid  desires.*  You  cannot  con- 
quer the  world  by  running  awaj  from  it,  much 
less  can  you  conquer  yourself  by  hiding  away 
from  the  world.  The  avoidance  of  temptation, 
always  a  duty,  is  not  to  be  accomplished,  by 
putting  locks  and  bolts  upon  the  doors  of  our 
houses,  but  by  watching  at  the  door  of  our 
hearts.  The  spirit  of  Christian  Temperance  is 
not  the  spirit  of  monkish  penance — making  a 
virtue  of  some  forced  outward  abstinence.  The 
control  which  the  text  enjoins  is  a  matter  not 
of  outward'  regulation,  but  of  inward  power 
.  over  self.  It  does  not  consist  in  checks  imposed 
upon  the  outward  action  of  the  desire  or  will, 
but  in  reducing  the  inner  man  to  a  state  of 
harmony  with  reason  and  the  law  of  God. 

"  We  need  not  bid  for  cloistered  cell, 
Our  neighbor  and  our  work  farewell, 
Nor  strive  to  wind  ourselves  too  high, 
For  sinful  man,  beneath  the  sky. 

"  The  trivial  round,  the  common  task, 
*         Would  furnish  all  we  ought  to  ask  ; 
Koom  to  deny  ourselves  ;  a  road 
To  bring  us  daily  nearer  God."f 

♦  Kingsley's  "Hypatia."         f  Keble's  "  Christian  Tear." 


ya  THE  CHRISTIAIT  GEACES. 

3.  But  in  order  to  gain  Self-control,  we  must 
study  ourselves^  especially  as  to   our  weak 
points  of  character,  and  aim  to  conquer  specific 
modes  or  habits  of  evil  to  which  we  are  prone. 
The  apostle  speaks  of  "  the  sin  which  doth  so 
easily  beset  us ;"  and  every  one  who  is  accus- 
tomed to  study  his  heart,  finds  some  point  at 
which  Satan  works  with  special  facility.     If 
one  is  repeatedly  affected  with  heart-burn,  with 
headache,  with  nervousness,  with  nightmare, 
he  begins  to  scrutinize  his  diet,  and  when  he 
ascertains  what  it  is  that  deranges  his  system, 
he  refrains   from  that  as  if  it  were  poison. 
If  we  were  half  so  careful  in  the  dietetics  of 
the  soiil,  we  should  keep  up  a  far  more  healthy 
and  vigorous  tone  of  Yirtue.    Whenever  any- 
thing goes  amiss  in  our  outward  conduct,  or 
when  we  find  an  indifference  or  languor  of 
heart  towards  spiritual  things,  if  we  search 
into  the  springs  of  our  spiritual  life  we  shall 
discover  that  at  some  point  an  evil  propen- 
sity, an  old  unconquered  habit,  has  gained  a 
temporary    ascendency    over    us,    and    has 
betrayed  us  into  sin ;  and  we  must  set  om-- 
selves  resolutely  by  the  grace  of  God  to  con- 


ROBERT  HALL.  93 

quer  that  evil.  I  have  instanced  the  case  of 
one  who  found  himself  insensibly  contract- 
ing an  appetite  for  spirituous  drinks,  which 
he  had  begun  to  use  as  a  medicine.  The  dis- 
covery of  the  danger  gave  him  resolution  for 
the  remedy.  I  have  learned  also  of  one  who 
finding  the  spirit  of  covetousness  growing 
with  the  increase  of  his  wealth,  fought  it  down 
by  signing  checks  in  blank  for  benevolent- 
societies,  and  keeping  these  ready  to  be  filled 
up  on  every  application.  He  conquered  him- 
self by  writing  his  name.  Robert  Hall,  so 
weighty  and  eloquent  in  the  pulpit,  was  apt 
to  b*e  impetuous  and  overbearing  in  uttering 
his  opinions  in  private.  But  he  watched  and 
prayed  against  this  infirmity,  till  he  percepti- 
bly gained  in  modesty  and  sweetness  of  tem- 
per. Once  when  he  so  far  lost  his  self-com- 
mand as  to  become  heated  in  a  debate,  he 
abruptly  closed  the  discussion  and  left  the 
room.  The  company  supposed  that  he  had 
gone  away  in  anger;  but  he  was  overheard  to 
ejaculate  with  deep  feeling,  '' Larrib  of  God; 
Lamb  of  God,  calm  my  excited  spirit."  He 
went  away  not  to  show  angqr,  but  to  conquer 


94:  THE   CHRISTIAN  OEACES. 

it  by  prayer ; — ^willing  to  lose  Ms  accustomed 
triumph  in  an  argument,  if  lie  could  win  the 
greater  victory  over  himself. 

4.  Again ;  the  power  of  Self-control  will  be 
strengthened,  if  we  cherish  habitually  the 
sense  of  GocPs  presence  and  of  his  watchful 
eye.  When  David  has  portrayed  the  omni- 
presence and  omniscience  of  God,  in  that 
Psalm  which  is  as  the  fire  of  Sinai  kindled 
within  the  soul,  when  he  has  realized  God  in  his 
spiritual  Personality  as  knowing  e^ry  word 
of  the  tongue  and  every  unuttered  thought, 
compassing  the  earth  and  the  sea,  outflying 
the  wrings  of  the  morning,  and  piercing  dark- 
ness with  the  blaze  of  noon — he  prostrates 
himself  before  the  omnipresent  and  omni- 
scient Jehovah,  and  cries,  "  Search  me,  O 
God,  and  know  my  heart ;  try  me  and  know 
my  thoughts,  and  see  if  there  be  any  wicked 
way  in  me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlast- 
ing." *  Could  we  form  worldly  and  selfish 
plans — ^if  we  felt  the  presence  of  God  about 
us,  felt  his  eye  upon  us  ?  Should  we  debase 
ourselves  by  any  evil  appetite  or  passion,  if 

*  Ps.  cxxxix.  23,  24. 


THE  PEESENCE  OF  GOD.  95 

we  saw  the  Lord  continually  before  ns  ?  Could 
we  allow  ourselves  in  anger  or  in  vain  and 
foolish  talking,  if  we  remembered  that  there 
is  not  a  word  on  our  tongues  but  the  Lord 
knoweth  it  altogether  ?  Do  we  not  first  put 
God  out  of  mindj  and  theru  abandon  our- 
selves to  sin  ?  There  is  no  government  over 
our  evil  propensities,  like  the  simple  thought, 
"  Thou  God  see'st  me." 

"  Oh !  may  this  thought  possess  my  breast, 
Where'er  I  roam,  where'er  I  rest ; 
Nor  let  my  weaker  passions  dare 
Consent  to  sin,  for  God  is  there." 

And  not  only  the  thought  of  God  as  ever 
nigh  to  us,  but  the  presence  of  God  hy  his 
Spirit  within  us,  must  be  cherished,  if  we 
would  govern  ourselves  by  His  law.  The 
Apostle  enumerates  Temperance,  self-govern- 
ment, among  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  And 
surely  when  the  Holy  Spirit  is  so  honored 
and  cherished  in  our  hearts,  that  He  consents 
to  abide  there  as  in  a  temple,  when  his  blessed 
influence,  sought  by  prayer,  steals  over  us  like 
the  fragrance  of  heaven,  like  the  music  of 


96  THE  CHEISTIAN  GRACES. 

angels,  every  noisj  passion,  every  nnwortliy 
motive,  every  selfish  wish,  every  carnal  desire, 
must  lie  vanquished  before  Him.  As  the 
notes  of  a  wind  instrument  attuned  to  softest 
music,  breathing  sweeter  and  sweeter  chords, 
floating  into  the  upper  heaven,  almost  vanish- 
ing from  the  outer  ear,  but  whispering  still  to 
the  ear  of  the  spirit — ^hush  the  idle  conversa- 
tion, the  restless  wandering,  the  fashionable 
coquetry  of  a  vast  and  mixed  assembly,  sub- 
duing every  soul  by  a  gentle,  invisible  power 
— BO  the  voice  of  this  celestial  dove,  the.  still 
small  voice,  the  inbreathing  of  heaven,  so 
pure,  so  gentle,  yet  so  controlling,  stills  all 
that  is  earthly  within  us,  and  holds  us  captive 
to  divine  love.  "  If  ye  through  the  Spirit  do 
mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body,  ye  shall  live ; 
for  as  many  as  are  led  ly  the  Spirit  of  God^ 
they  are  the  sons  of  God." 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  let  me  urge  you 
to  give  all  diligence  to  add  this  grace  to  your 
character; — io perfect  yourself  inthegoverrir 
ment  of  your  own  heart. 

1.  I  urge  you  to  this  diligence,  hy  the  great- 


COLEEIDGE.  97 

ness  of  the  object  to  he  obtained.  Consider 
wliat  it  is  to  gain  tlie  mastery  over  a  single 
passion.  And  tliink,  also,  what  it  is  for  the 
mind  to  be  ruled  by  an  appetite !  Look  at 
Coleridge — a  poet  who  might  have  sung  for 
all  time,  a  philosopher  capable  of  teaching 
and  moulding  generations,  skulking  away 
from  the  eye  of  friends  and  of  servants  to 
drink  his  bottle  of  laudanum,  and  then 
bewailing  his  weakness  and  sin  with  an  agony 
the  bare  recital  of  which  makes  our  hearts 
bleed  for  pity.  Think  of  the  poets,  the  states- 
men, the  warriors,  who  have  sunk  under  the . 
inebriating  cup,  and  have  left  a  dishonored 
name.  And  as  you  mourn  over  the  melan- 
choly ruin  of  greatness  by  appetite  and  pas- 
sion, think  how  great  it  is  to  master  these ;  to 
subject  all  passions  and  desires  to  the  wise 
and  sound  control  of  Reason  acting  for  Love. 
It  is  not  only  to  subdue  a  serpent,  to  tame  a 
lion, — there  is  a  whole  menagerie  of  evil  pas- 
sions to  be  kept  in  subjection.  "Every  kind 
of  beasts,  and  of  birds,  and  of  serpents,  and 
of  things  in  the  sea,  is  tamed,  and  hath  been 
tamed  of  mankind*  but  the  tongue  can  no 


y»  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

man  tame ;  it  is  an  unruly  evil,  full  of  deadly 
poison."  The  grace  tliat  can  subdue  tongue 
and  thouglit  and  heart  to  the  mild  constraint 
of  love,  is  the  very  power  of  God. 

2.  I  exhort  you  to  be  diligent  in  this  Self- 
conquest  because  it  is  made  practicahle  hy 
timely  diligence.  Passions  indulged  have  a 
rapid  and  fearful  growth.  Give  them  sway, 
and  they  become  like  very  fiends  within  you. 
But  as  the  crocodile  of  the  Nile,  which 
devours  a  man  at  a  meal,  and  snaps  a  boat 
asunder  with  its  jaws,  can  be  crushed  within 
your  hand  when  in  the  Qgg^  so  the  passions 
that  devour  human  souls  could  be  extermi- 
nated by  one  timely  and  decisive  blow.  "  Ile- 
sist  the  Devil  and  he  will  flee  from  you." 

3. 1  exhort  you  to  this  Self-con trol,/b7'y(9^^7' 
own  peace  of  mind.  In  a  sense  all  our  unhap- 
piness  proceeds  from  the  want  of  self-regula- 
tion. I  use  unhapjpiness  in  distinction  from 
that  sorrow  which  afflictions  bring.  Tlie  per- 
sonal experience  of  David  at  various  times,  as 
recorded  in  the  Psalms,  points  this  contrast 
between  the  man  made  unhappy  by  his  own 
sins,  and  the  saint,  afflicted  by  God's  Provi- 


DAVID  S   EXPEEIENCE. 


99 


dence.  The  contrast  is  most  effective  when 
you  throw  these  experiences  into  parallel 
columns,  and  compare  them  side  by  side. 


The  Unhappy  Man. 

"  When  I  kept  silence  " — 
harboring  sin  in  my  heart, 
and  unwilling  to  confess  it 
— "  my  bones  waxed  old 
through  my  roaring  all  the 
day  long  " — I  was  tormented 
with  inward  pains  of  con- 
science.— "  For  day  and  night 
thy  hand  was  heavy  upon 
me ;  my  moisture  is  turned 
into  the  drought  of  summer." 
— (Ps.  xxxii.  3,.  4.) 

"  My  sin  is  ever  before 
me.  Against  thee,  thee  only, 
have  I  sinned,  and  done  evil 

in  thy  sight Make 

me  to  hear  joy  and  gladness, 
that  the  bones  which  thou 
hast  broken  may  rejoice.  . 
Restore  unto  me  the  joy  of 
thy  salvation.  .  .  .  Deliver  me 
from  blood-guiltiness,  0  God, 
thou  God  of  my  salvation." 
— (Ps.  U. 


The  Afflicted  Man. 

"  Lord,  how  are  they  in- 
creased that  trouble  me! 
many  are  they  that  rise  up 
against  me  ;  many  which  say 
of  my  soul.  There  is  no  help 
for 'him  in  God.  But  thou,  0 
Lord,  art  a  shield  for  me  ;  my 
glory,  and  the  lifter  up  of  mine 
head."  Driven  out  from  Je- 
rusalem by  a  rebellious  son, 
dethroned  and  forsaken  of 
men — "  I  laid  me  down  and 
slept;  I  awaked;  for  the 
Lord  sustained  me. — (Ps.  iii.) 

In  the  midst  of  enemies, 
surrounded  by  bloody  men, 
he  sings,  "  The  Lord  is  my 
light  and  my  salvation ;  whom 
shall  I  fear  ?  the  Lord  is  the 
strength  of  my  life,  of  whom 
shall  I  be  afraid  ?  Though  a 
host  should  encamp  against 
me,  my  heart  shall  not  fear. 
.  .  For  in  the  time  of  trou- 
ble, he  shall  hide  me  in  his 
pavilion." — (_J?s.  xxvii.) 


100  THE  CKRISTIAN  GRACES. 

Unliappiness  is  quite  anotlier  tiling  from 
that  sacred  and  chastened  sorrow  wMch  the 
heart  may  lawfully  indulge  under  afflictive 
dispensations  of  Providence.  "Whenever  we 
are  unhappy  it  is  because  of  some  ground  of 
perturbation  within  ourselves.  But  the  due 
control  of  our  desires  removes  all  those  in- 
ward occasions  of  perturbed  feeling,  which 
produce  an  unhappy  spirit.  "  Let  your  mo- 
deration be  known  to  all  men.  ...  Be  care- 
ful for  nothing."  Allow  yourself  in  no  ex- 
cess; indulge  no  solicitude  for, worldly  good  ; 
"  and  the  peace  of  Grod,  which  passeth  all  un- 
derstanding, shall  keep  your  hearts  and  minds 
through  Christ  Jesus." 

When  Mr.  Webster  stood  before  the  eager 
thousands  at  Bunl^er  Hill,  on  an  occasion 
which  must  have  agitated  any  common  man, 
his  wife,  regarding  him  from  a  distance,  ob- 
served to  a  friend,  "  I  do  not  care  to  remain ; 
for  I  see  that  he  is  calm^  and  I  know  that 
he  will  succeed."  A  conscious  Self-control 
gives  that  assured  calmness  which  is  the  re- 
pository of  strength. 

4.  Yov/r  duty  to  Christy  and  your  jprofessed 
ho^e  in  Hirr^  require  that  you  shall  govern  your 


101 

Jiearts  in  his  sjpirit.  "  He  died  for  all,  that  tliey 
whicli  live  should  not  henceforth  live  to  them- 
selves, but  to  Him  which  died  for  them,  and 
rose  again."     And  if  Jesus  was  nailed  to  the 
cross  to  deliver  you  from  sin,  shall  not  you 
nail  to  his  cross   every  darling  lust?     You 
owe  it  to  your  professed  hope  in  Christ  that 
you  shall    be    an    example   of  holy  living. 
"  Every  one  that  hath  this  hope  in  Him,  puri- 
fieth  himself  even  as  He  is  pure."     Let  us 
keep  ever  in  mind  that  saying  of  Paul,  who, 
having  endured  all  earthly  loss  and  shame  for 
Christ,  still  enjoined  upon  his  own  heart  the 
most  vigilant  self-control.      "  Every  man  that 
striveth  for  the  mastery  is  temperate  in  all 
things.     Now,  they  do  it  to  obtain  a  corrupti- 
ble crown ;  but  we  an  incorruptible.     I  there- 
fore so  run,  not  as  uncertainly;    so  fight  I, 
not  as  one  that  beateth  the  air.      But  /  Jceej) 
under  my  lody^  and  bring  it  into  .subjection ^ 
lest  that  by  any  means,  when  I  preach  to 
others,  I  myself  should  be  a  castaway." 


9* 


LECTURE    lY. 
PATIEI^CE. 

And  to  Temperance  Patience. — 2  Peter  i.  6." 

EHOLD  we  count  them  liappy  which 
endure.  "  He  that  endureth  to  the  end 
shall  be  saved."  This  uncomplaining 
and  inflexible  endurance  is  Patience ; 
literally  "  a  remaining  under,"  or 
abiding  in  the  place  and  circumstances  of 
duty  to  which  we  are  called;  bearing  up 
under  labors,  and  difficulties,  and  trials,  and 
conflicts,  and  sorrows,  calmly  and  resolutely 
awaiting  the  end,  in  God's  own  time  and  way. 
''  If  we  hope  for  that  we  see  not,  then  do  ,we 
with  Patience  wait  for  it."  "  We  desire  that 
every  one  of  you  do  show  the  same  diligence 
to  the  full  assurance  of  hope  unto  the  end ; 
that  ye  be  not  slothful  but  followers  of  them 
who  through  faith  and  Patience  inherit  the 
promises."      Here    continuance  in  faith  and 

102 


A  CALM  ENDUEANCE.  103 

endurance  under  trial  constitute  the  Patience 
of  the  saints.  "Warning  the  Hebrews  against 
drawing  back  or  wavering  in  their  profession 
because  of  trials,  the  apostle  says,  "  cast  not 
away  your  confidence ;"  forsake  not  that  trust 
in  Christ  which  you  have  thus  far  maintained ; 
cast  not  away  that  sheet-anchor  of  hope  which 
has  held  you  through  so  many  storms ;  "for 
ye  have  need  of  Patience,  that,  after  ye  have 
done  the  will  of  God,  ye  might  receive  the  pro- 
mise." "  Behold,"  saith  James,  "  the  husband- 
man waiteth  for  the  precious  fruit  of  the  earth, 
and  hath  long  Patience  for  it,  until  he  receive 
the  early  and  latter  rain.  Be  ye  also  Patient ; 
establish  your  hearts ;  for  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  draweth  nigh."  Abraham  after  he  had 
patiently  endured  wandering,  affliction,  exile 
— "had  patiently  endured,  obtained  the 
promise."  "  Rest  in  the  Lord  and  wait 
patiently  for  Him."  The  prophet  Jeremiah, 
in  his  lamentations,  while  bewailing  his  own 
sins  and  the  sins  and  calamities  of  his  peo- 
ple, yet  exhibits  the  virtue  of  Patience  when 
he  says,  "  the  Lord  is  my  portion,  saith  my 
soul ;  therefore  will  I  hope  in  him ;  it  is  good 


104:  THE   CHEISTIAN    GEACES. 

that  a  man  should  both  hope  and  quietly  wait 
for  the  salvation  of  the  Lord."  And  David, 
when  compassed  about  with  evil  doers,  and 
threatened  by  the  pride  and  prosperity  of  the 
wicked,  thus  exhorts  the  righteous  to.  Patience. 
"  Commit  thy  way  to  the  Lord  ;  trust  also  in 
him.  Rest  in  the  Lord,  and  wait  patiently 
for  him." 

These  examples  will  serve  to  bring  out  the 
general  signification  of  the  term  Patience  as 
used  in  the  Scriptures.*  We  pass  to  consider. 

I.  The  elements  of  a  teue  Cheistian  Pa- 
tience. 

*  The  literal  •meaning  of  vKOfiovf/  (Jiupdmone)  is  remain- 
ing behind^  or  remaining  in  the  house ;  i.  e.  abiding, — das 
zuriickbleiben,  zuhausebleiben  (Passow).  Hence  constancy, 
stability,  steadiness.  "  Our  days  on  the  earth  are  as  a  sha- 
dow, and  there  is  none  abiding^  (1  Chron.  xxix.  15.)  The 
Septuagint  here  uses  vno/iovT}  to  denote  stability,  the  oppo- 
site of  that  which  is  transitory  and  fleeting.  In  the  text 
De  Wette  renders  vnofiovT]  by  Standhaftigkeit,  steadfastness. 
It  is  something  more  than  suhmissiveness,  by  which  Isaac 
Taylor  defines  it.  Patientia  denotes  the  quality  of  bearing  or 
enduring.  Cicero  applies  it  to  the  endurance  of  hunger  and 
cold. 


NOT   INSENSIBILITY.  105 

II.  The  place  and  value  of  patience  in 
THE  Christian  charactek. 

1.  In  analyzing  Patience  into  its  elements,  we 
must  view  it  both  upon  the  negative  and  the 
positive  side.  Patience  does  not  invply  a  want 
of  sensibility  to  suffering^  sorrow^  or  wrong. 
A  E^orth  American  Indian  would  think  it 
unmanly  or  cowardly  to  betray  a  conscious- 
ness of  pain ;  to  utter  a  cry  or  shed  a  tear  for 
any  physical  suffering.  There  is  possible 
such  a  schooling  of  muscle  and  nerve,  and 
such  a  stiffening  of  the  will  through  pride  or 
self-determination,  that  there  shall  be  no  winc- 
ing under  the  severest  torture.  Or  where 
this  impassiveness  of  the  animal  nature  does 
not  exist,  a  desperate  course  of  life  may  have 
so  deadened  the  sensibilities  that  there  is  no 
apparent  yielding  under  pain.  The  criminal 
who  has  hardened  himself  to  deeds  of  blood 
may  seem  as  insensible  to  his  fate  as  the  stone 
he  hammers  in  the  jail-yard,  and  may  even 
tread  the  scaffold  with  an  air  of  bravado. 
But  though  no  cry  of  pain  escape  him,  no 
murmuring  at  his  fate,  though  he  wear  out 
uncomplaining  years  in  the  penitentiary,   or 


106  THE  CHRISTIAN  GRACES. 

bend  his  neck  to  tlie  gallows'  noose  as  if  it 
were  a  common  neck-tie,  it  would  be  absurd 
to  speak  of  Mm  as  patient  under  suffering. 

So  intense  were  the  sufferings  of  Jesus 
upon  the  cross,  that  bis  physical  frame  sank 
beneath  them  in  less  than  half  the  time 
allotted  for  the  cross  to  do  its  work ;  such 
too  w^as  his  inward  agony  that  his  cry  pierced 
the  heavens  ;  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast 
thou  forsaken  me !"  Yet  one  of  the  thieves  at 
his  side,  enduring  the  same  physical  torture, 
could  even  join  in  the  derisions  of  the  crowd 
below,  and  rail  at  him,  saying,  "  K  thou  be 
Christ,  save  thyself  and  us."  But  we  feel  that 
this  unflinching  criminal  was  a  hardened 
wretch,  and  that  the  sensitive,  quivering, 
moaning  sufferer  at  his  side  was  the  Lamb  of 
God,  the  dignity  of  whose  Patience  is  not 
impaired  in  our  thought  by  his  visible 
anguish.  We  cannot  associate  with  Jesus 
upon  the  cross  the  idea  of  weakness  or  of 
faltering.  He  suffers  keenly,  and  his  pure 
and  sensitive  soul  manifests  his  suffering; 
indeed,  had  he  gone  through  the  closing  tra- 
gedy of  his  life  in  a  mere  mechanical  way, 


CHRIST   A   SUFFERER.  107 

with  no  apparent  feeling  or  sense  of  pain,  we 
could  not  have  been  drawn  to  him  as  our 
Saviour.  We  should  have  felt  him  to  be 
wanting  in  the  sympathies  of  our  humanity ; 
and  our  guilt  would  still  have  felt  the  need  of 
some  vicarious  suffering  for  its  expiation. 

Christ  suffers  visibly,  keenly,  intensely ;  he 
feels  the  loaded  scourge  as  its  iron  prongs  tear 
his  naked  flesh;  he  feels  the  thorns  as  the 
rough  soldiers  force  them  into  his  bleeding 
brow ;  he  feels  the  insult  when  they  spit  on 
him,  and  mock  him,  and  buffet  him ;  he  feels 
the  injustice  when  the  judge  who  has  pro- 
nounced him  innocent,  surrenders  him  to  the 
mob ;  he  feels  the  weight  of  the  cross  upon 
his  mangled  frame ;  he  feels  the  piercing  of 
the  nails,  and  the  strain  that  makes  every  fibre 
of  the  body  a  burning  dart  to  his  soul ;  he 
feels  the  pang  of  thirst  and  the  drear  sinking 
of  unsupported  nature ;  he  feels  all  this  and 
shows  that  he  feels  it;  and  yet  we  look  on 
him  not  with  pity  but  with  awe,  like  that 
which  made  the  Eoman  captain,  who  would 
himself  have  met  death  without  flinching, 
exclaim  of  this  meek  sufferer,  "  Truly  he  was  - 


108  THE   CHEISTIAN   GEACES. 

the  Son  of  God ;"  whicli  made  the  skeptical 
Eousseau  exclaim,  "  Socrates  died  like  a  hero — - 
Jesus  Christ  like  a  God." 

"  "What  grace,  0  Lord,  and  beauty  shone 
Around  thy  steps  below ; 
"What  patient  love  was  seen  in  all 
Thy  Ufe  and  death  of  woe. 

"  For  ever  on  thy  burdened  heart 
A  weight  of  sorrow  hung  ; 
Yet  no  ungentle,  murmuring  word 
Escaped  thy  silent  tongue. 

"  Thy  foes  might  hate,  despise,  revile, 
Thy  friends  unfaithful  prove  ; 
Unwearied  in  forgiveness  still, 
Thy  heart  could  only  love." 

The  sublimest  concept! oil  of  vicarious  suf- 
fering which  ancient  mythology  ever  reached, 
is  given  in  the  tragedy  of  "  Prometheus  Bound." 
Prometheus,  of  a  race  of  giants,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  intellectual  head  of  the  human 
race,  snatches  fire  from  heaven  for  men,  and 
also  imparts  a  knowledge  of  sciences  and 
the  arts  of  life — in  a  word,  he  is  the  great 
benefactor  of  mankind,  averting  from  them 
the  destruction    resolved  upon  by  Jupiter. 


PROMETHEUS   BOUND.  109 

His  daring  inventions  excite  tlie  jealousy  of 
tlie  father  of  the  gods,  who  causes  him  to  be 
seized  and  chained  to  a  rock  in  a  desert, 
where  every  day  an  eagle  preys  upon  his 
vitals,  which  are  always  restored  by  night,  so 
that  each  day  his  anguish  may  be  renewed. 
It  is  required  of  him  that  lie  shall  give  up  his 
inventions  and  submit  to  Jupiter.  But  Pro- 
metheus consoles  himself  with  the  thought 
that  he  has  procured  such  benefits  for  man, 
and  braces  himself  to  endure  his  torture  as 
the  decree  of  Fate. 

"And  I — oh,  miserable! — 
Who  did  devise  for  mortals  all  these  arts, 
Have  no  device  left  now  to  save  myself 
From  the  woe  I  suffer." 

And  SO  he  refuses  all  terms  from  Jupiter,  and 
suffers  on  hopelessly,  bravely,  sublimely,  say- 
ing ever : 

"  And  helping  mortals,  found  mine  own  despair." 

But  when  you  come  to  analyze  his  feeling, 
you  find  no  Patience  nor  submission,  but  a 
hatred  of  Jupiter,  and  a  tremendous  willful- 
10 


110  THE    CHRISTIAN    GRACES. 

ness  in  his  own  determination.  Prometlieus 
is  not  calm  in  the  greatness  of  his  purpose ; 
but  like  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena,  he  chafes 
under  restraint,  and  his  giant  soul  heaves  and 
rages  like  the  ocean  that  surges  against  his 
rock-prison.  He  holds  out  in  defiance,  say- 
ing, "  Let  outrage  and  tortures  be  increased ; 
let  lightnings  flame,  and  thunders  rack  the 
universe,  I  will  not  bend.  E'ever  shall  I, 
aifrighted  by  Jupiter,  become  womanish,  and 
importune  him  whom  I  so  much  loathe,  to 
release  me  of  my  shackles."  There  is  a  hea- 
then's conception  of  endurance  under  sufler- 
ing  and  wrong. 

Turn  now  again  to  Him  w^ho  brought  from 
heaven  to  men,  not  fire,  and  science,  and  art, 
but  light,  and  love,  and  life ;  who  did  this, 
not  against  the  ^rill  of  God,  but  for  that  will ; 
yet  in  doing  it,  suffered  for  the  sake  of  men, 
the  hiding  of  God's  face,  and  suflPered  also 
indignity  and  ingratitude,  outrage  and  cru- 
elty from  those  he  sought  to  bless.  There 
is  no  chafing  of  his  soul,  no  proud,  sullen  en- 
durance of  fate,  no  stern  defiance  of  woe;  but 
*■•  a.   man  of    sorrows,    and    acquainted   with 


CHRIST  ON   THE   CROSS,  111 

grief,"  lie  meets  all,  bears  all,  suffers  all,  witli 
tlie  nncomplaining  meekness  and  Patience 
of  a  lamb  led  to  the  slaughter ; — who,  "  when 
he  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again ;  when  he 
suffered,  he  threatened  not;  but  committed 
himself  to  him  that  judgeth  righteously," — 
saying,  "  not  my  will  but  thine  be  done,"  and 
drinking  the  cup  that  shrinking  nature  would 
have  set  aside. 

"  The-  sea  of  ill,  for  which  the  universe 
With  all  its  piled  space,  can  find  no  shore, 
With  all  its  life,  no  living  foot  to  tread ! 
But  He,  accomplished  in  Jehovah-being, 
Sustains  the  gaze  adown. 
Conceives  the  vast  despair, 
And  feels  the  billowy  griefs  come  up  to  drown. 
Nor  fears,  nor  faints,  nor  fails,  till  all  be  finished."* 

"We  may  not  seek  for  Patience  in  an  insen- 
sibility to  suffering,  whether  natural  or  forced ; 
nor  in  a  sullen  disregard  of  personal  conse- 
quences in  carrying  out  some  purposed  end, 
or  meeting  an  imagined  fate. 

2.  And  here  we  may  notC;  more  particu- 

•  The  Seraphim.     Mrs.  Browning. 


112  THE   CimiSTIAX    GRACES. 

larly,  that  Patience  does  not  argue  indiffer- 
ence to  the  issue  of  the  trials  or  labors  which 
a/re  ujpon  us.  We  Iiave  already  marked  the 
distinction  between  firmness  and  self-control 
in  the  Christian,  and  the  counterfeits  of  these 
qualities,  produced  by  the  Stoical  Philosophy. 
And  here  again  in  this  matter  of  Patience  the 
Christian  is  no  Stoic,  but  is  ever  greater  than " 
the  Stoic.  According  to  the  best  interpreta- 
tion of  that  philosophy,  men  should  endeavor 
to  attain  a  feeling  of  indifference  as  to  the 
events  of  life,  and  should  submit  without  com- 
plaining, to  the  unavoidable  ^Necessity  by 
which  all  things  are  governed.  But  this,  if 
carried  out,  goes  to  destroy  what  is  most  vital 
within  us — a  personal  will,  a  power  of  choice, 
and  I  had  almost  said,  an  instinct  to  choose 
good  before  evil.  Could  we  bring  ourselves 
into  a  state  of  stolid  indifference  to  events  as 
fated,  and  therefore  unavoidable,  we  should 
take  aw«iif  the  highest  stimulus  to  right 
action  as  a  means  of  the  best  good,  both 
general  and  personal;  we  should  come  as 
near  as  possible  to  self-annihilation. 

But  this  absolute  indifference  of  the  Stoic, 


THE   TUKK   A   STOIC.  113 

is  in  the  nature  of  the  human  mind  a  thing  im- 
possible. The  mind  will  forecast  its  own 
future ;  will  have  hopes ;  will  have  fears ;  will 
have  a  choice  as  to  events  affecting  its  own  hap- 
piness ;  no  logic  or  philosophy  or  schooling  can 
destroy  these  essential  qualities  of  the  human 
soul ;  take  away  these,  and  man  ceases  to  be 
a  man.  The  Turk  of  to-day  is  the  nearest 
example  we  have  of  the  Stoical  philosophy. 
The  Turk  is  a  Fatalist.  He  holds  that  what 
is  must  be  ;  and  that  each  event  is  to  be  taken 
as  a  decree  of  God,  and  however  unwelcome 
in  itself,  is  to  be  borne  as  a  necessity.  He 
therefore  affects  a  Stoical  indifference  to  the 
nature  of  events,  whether  of  pleasure  or  of 
pain.  But  this  state  of  mind  is  not  Patience ; 
it  is  sullenness ;  it  exists  along  with  malignant 
and  revengeful  passions,  and  may  be  turned 
into  the  wildest  fanaticism.  The  Turk  may  sit 
sullenly  by  and  see  his  religion  dishonored,  his 
sceptre  broken,  his  empire  dismembered, 
grimly  bowing  to  his  Fate  ;  but  the  patriot  of 
Italy  or  Hungary,  though  often  baffled  in  his 
plans  for  the  emancipation  of  his  country,  his 
family  scattered,  his  property  confiscated, 
10* 


114  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

himself  a  prisoner  or  an  exile,  does  not  give 
over  at  last  to  a  forlorn  indifference,  but  hold- 
ing his  country's  freedom  still  most  precious, 
he  waits  for  that,  and  suffers  for  that,  and 
labors  for  that  as  his  one  end,  and  is  patient 
because  he  is  not  indifferent  to  the  result, 
but  realizes  that  the  good  he  labors  for  will 
be  worth  all  that  it  may  cost.  He  who  pro- 
fesses not  to  be  troubled  about  events  be- 
cause he  does  not  care  what  happens,  is  not 
an  example  of  the  patient  man.  The  true 
patient  man  does  care  what  happens ;  does 
have  a  choice  and  an  end  in  life ;  he  does 
have  principles  which  he  values,  hopes  which 
he  cherishes,  and  for  these  he  is  willing  to 
wait  and  toil  and  suffer,  through  whatever 
difficulty  and  opposition,  till  their  time  shall 
come.  The  care-nothing  spirit  is  not  true 
Christian  Patience. 

3.  Neither  is  a  do-nothing  spirit  to  he  iden- 
tified with  Patience.  There  are  times  when 
Patience  counsels  to  inaction ;  when  "  the 
strength  of  Israel  is  to  sit  still ;"  when  Jeho- 
vah saith  to  his  people,  "  In  returning  and 
rest  shall   ye    be  saved ;    in    quietness    and 


THE    SHIPWRECKED   SAILOE.  115 

in  confidence  shall  be  your  strength  ;" — 
when  like  the  children  of  Israel  with  the  sea 
before  them  and  the  foe  behind,  thej  have 
nothing  to  do  but  "  to  stand  still  and  see  the 
salvation  of  God."  But  this  patience  of  wait- 
ing is  not  the  inaction  of  sluggishness  nor  of 
despondency.  It  is  a  watchful  inaction,  like 
that  of  men  sleeping  upon  their  arms,  with 
their  camp-fires  always  lighted  and  the  senti- 
nels at  their  posts.  He  who  gives  over  an 
undertaking  as  too  arduous  or  unpromising, 
and  then  waits  to  see  what  will  come  to  pass, 
is  not  patiently  waiting  upon  the  Lord.  He  has 
neither  the  patience  of  Faith  nor  the  patience 
of  Hope.  A  true  Patience  disposes  one  either 
to  labor  or  to  wait,  to  do  or  to  suffer,  as  God's 
wise  Providence  and  the  end  in  view  may 
require.  But  a  Christian  Patience  can  never 
imply  a  voluntary  acquiescence  in  wrong. 

The  shipwrecked  mariner  in  an  open  boat 
without  oar  or  sail,  has  nothing  to  do  but  wait 
for  the  appearance  of  relief.  But  if  he  has 
a  compass  and  a  paddle,  and  knows  himself  to 
be  within  a  hundred  miles  of  land,  then  Pa- 
tience will  be  shown  not  in  idle  waiting  or  in 


116  THE    CimiSTIAX    GRACES. 

praying  for  some  chance  relief,  but  in  working 
on  without  murmuring  and  without  despair, 
though  the  hand  is  w^eary  and  the  head  is 
faint,  and  neither  sun  nor  star  appears  over 
the  waste  of  waters.  Patience  is  neither  insen- 
sibility, indiiference,  nor  inaction ;  but  that 
state  of  mind,  in  which  evils  and  wTongs  are 
endured  without  murmuring,  and  justice  and 
redress  are  waited  for  without  discontent,  and 
in  w^hich  duty  is  steadily  performed  against 
all  oj)position  and  discouragement.  It  exists 
with  the  most  delicate  perception  of  injury, 
the  keenest  sense  of  wrong,  the  liveliest  aver- 
sion to  evil. 

Viewed  then  positively.  Patience  requires, 
1.  The  Consciousness  of  a  Bight  Intent. 
This  removes  from  within  all  disturbing  causes 
which  might  irritate  and  unsettle  the  mind, 
and  enables  us  to  commit  our  way  to  the  Lord 
in  confidence.  "We  may  have  the  most  deep  and 
painful  consciousness  of  sin  and  ill-desei-t  in 
the  very  matter  concerning  wdiich  we  are  now 
called  to  exercise  Patience ;  we  may  feel  that 
the  affliction  we  suffer  has  come  upon  us 
through   our  own  sin  or  folly ;    but  in  the 


A.   EIGHT    INTENT.  .117 

affliction  and  with  regard  to  that,  if  onr 
intent  is  to  use  it  rightly,  to  profit  by  God's 
dealing,  we  shall  be  not  restive  and  fretful, 
but  submissive '  and  patient.  We  shall  grow 
patient  under  trials  in  proportion  as  we  grow 
unselfish. 

And  so  too  of  labors ;  if  we  enter  upon 
these  with  a  pure  intent,  if  we  rise  above  all 
selfish  feeling  to  the  grandeur  of  working  for 
mankind  and  for  God,  then  shall  we  hold  on 
by  the  attraction  of  the  work  itself,  never 
ruffled  by  opposition,  nor  disheartened  by 
difficulty.  Hence  the  exercise  of  a  true 
Christian  Patience  demands  a  conscience 
void  of  offence  towards  man  and  God.  "  For 
what  glory  is  it,  if,  when  ye  be  buffeted  for 
your  faults,  ye  take  it  patiently ;  but  if,  when 
ye  do  well,  and  suffer  for  it,  ye  take  it 
patiently,  this  is  acceptable  with  God."  A 
true  Patience  demands  an  unselfish  heart — a 
heart  accepting  with  meekness  all  divine 
chastisements  as  deserved,  and  therefore  seek- 
ing to  profit  by  these ;  a  heart  intent  upon 
good  towards  others,  and  therefore  patient  of 
misconstruction,  outrage,  and  wrong. 


118'  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

2.  The  exercise  of  Cliristian  Patience  de- 
mands imjplicit  confidence  in  God^  and  in  our 
cause  as  ajpjproved  ly  Him.  .  Patience  "and 
faith  go  hand  in  hand.  It  is  said  of  Moses 
that,  "  by  faith  he  forsook  Egypt,  not  fearing 
the  wrath  of  the  king,  for  he  endured  as  see- 
ing him  who  is  invisible."  He  knew  the 
character  of  Pharaoh — ^prond,  daring,  stub- 
born, revengeful ;  he  saw  his  pride  and  rage 
excited  against  Israel ;  but  above  and  behind- 
the  throne  of  Pharaoh,  Moses  saw  the  king 
Eternal,  Immortal,  Invisible — the  King  of 
kings,  and  lord  of  Lords;  and  he  took  his 
orders  from  that  throne  ; — the  sense  of  God's 
presence,  faith  in  God's  power,  gave  him 
that  heroic  Patience  which  endured  the  slights 
of  his  brethren,  which  endnred  forty  years  of 
exile  in  the  desert,  and  forty  years  more  of 
wanderings  with  a  murmuring  people.  The 
main  element  in  Patience  is  Christian  sub- 
mission to  the  will  of  God.  This  rests  upon 
confidence  as  its  basis — confidence  in  the  wis- 
dom, the  power,  and  the  love  of  God.  To  be 
patient,  we  must  believe  that  God  always 
intends    some    good  in   the    evil  which  he 


PATIENCE   IN    HOPE.  119 

brings  or  suffers  to  come  upon  us.  We  must 
not  only  believe  that  God  reigns — but  that 
He  loves^  and  reigns  in  love.  We  must  have 
confidence  aUo  in  the  wisdom  of  God,  as  to 
the  time  and  manner  of  the  issue  of  any  event 
affecting  our  welfare,  and  the  prosperity  of 
his  cause.  Remembering  how  "the  hus- 
bandman waiteth  for  the  precious  fruit  of  the 
earth,  and  hath  long  patience  for  it,  until  he 
receive  the  early  and  the  latter  rain,"  we 
must  not  be  weary  in  well-doing,  knowing 
that  in  due  season  we  also  shall  reap,  if  we 
faint  not. 

3.  Patience  must  have  in  it  the  element  of 
hojpe,  "  If  we  hope  for  that  we  see  not,  then 
do  we  with  Patience  wait  for  it."  Patience 
is  incompatible  with  despair.  Tlie  depression 
and  gloom,  the  melancholy  inaction  which 
fastens  upon  the  mind  when  hope  is  gone,  is 
no  part  of  Christian  patience.  This  is  the 
sinking  of  the  soul,  not  its  bearing  up.  But 
where  there  is  the  faintest  ray  of  hope,  then 
Pa^tience  may  come  in  to  soothe  the  mind  and 
keep  it  steadfast.  Patience  in  sickness  may 
not  depend  upon  the  specific  hope  of  recov- 


120  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

erj,  but  it  does  involve  the  hope  of  relief  and 
deliverance  in  God's  own  time  and  way. 
Patience  under  trial  exj)ects  God's  appearing. 
Patience  in  labor  awaits  God's  help. 

The  virtue  of  Patience,  bj  reason  of  its 
quiet  and  retiracj,  commands  but  little 
notice  and  admiration  from  men.  Men  do 
not  lay  the  stress  of  greatness  upon  the  pas- 
sive virtues.  Indeed  they  rather  take  these 
as  marks  of  weakness  and  the  lack  of  spirit. 
Some  bold  action,  some  brilliant  achievement, 
some  exhibition  of  energy,  daring,  and  active 
courage,  more  impresses  the  masses  with  the 
idea  of  greatness,  than  does  mere  patient 
doing  and  suffering  in  an  unseen  work  or 
way.  And  yet  when  we  come  to  analyze 
this  Patience,  we  find  in  it  the  sublimest 
heroism.  There  is  in  it  no  taint  of  pusillani- 
mity. The  apostle  prays  that  believers  "  might 
be  strengthened  with  all  mighty  according  to 
his  glorious  power,  unto  all  Patience  and 
long-suffering  with  joyfulness." 

Were  we  to  single  out  one  incident  of  the 
life  of  "Washington  to  show  the  greatness  of 


WASHINGTON   AT  VALLEY  FOEGE.  121 

Ms  character,  it  would  be  his  conduct  at  Yal- 
ley  Forge,  in  the  second  dreary  winter  of  the 
war.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  first  rush  to 
arms  is  over,  and  war  has  become  an  earnest 
matter  for  the  undisciplined  yeomanry  whose 
families  and  farms  are  suffering  at  home, 
while  they  have  only  an  inglorious  winter 
of  hardship  before  them.  The  people  have 
lost  the  first  glow  of  independence,  and  shrink 
from  the  burdens  of  a  confiict  which  has  yet 
given  no  brilliant  successes  to  the  republican 
army.  Congress  is  divided  by  jealousies  and 
factions.  Tlie  supplies  needed  for  the  army 
are  liot  granted,  or  are  long  delayed.  It  is 
midwinter,  and  yet  the  huts  are  not  built,  and 
men  who  have  marched  for  miles  with  naked 
and  bleeding  feet,  are  shivering  in  their  tents. 
Three  thousand  men  are  disabled  for  want  of 
food  and  clothing.  There  are  signs  of  mutiasr 
in  the  camp.  There  are  intrigues  also  against 
"Washington,  both  in  the  army  and  in  Con- 
gress; and  complaints  of  his  inactivity  are 
made  in  Legislatures,  and  by  the  press. 
"Without  funds,  without  provisions,  without 
helpers,  without  the  prestige  of  success,  Wash- 
11 


122  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

ington  maintains  the  steadfastness  of  his  own 
heart,  and  keeps  up  the  spirit  of  Patience  and 
perseverance  in  the  army.  "It  is  much 
easier,"  he  writes  to  Congress,  "  and  a  less 
distressing  thing,  to  draw  remonstrances  in  a 
comfortable  room,  by  a  good  fire-side,  than  to 
occupy  a  cold,  bleak  hill,  and"  sleep  under 
frost  and  snow  without  clothes  or  blankets.  I 
feel  abundantly  for  the  naked  and  distressed 
soldiers,  and  from  my  soul  I  pity  those 
miseries  which  it  is  neither  in  my  power  to 
relieve  nor  prevent.  ...  It  adds  not  a  little 
to  my  other  difficulties  and  distress,  that  on 
the  ground  of  safety  I  am  obliged  to  cotceal 
the  true  state  of  the  army  from  public  view, 
and  thereby  expose  myself  to  detraction  and 
calumny."  ITever  was  the  hero  of  a  great 
cause  placed  in  circumstances  so  unfavorable 
to  all  common  traits  and  impulses  of  heroism. 
Yet  he  struggled  on,  and  kept  the  life  and 
soul  of  the  army  together.  Well  does  Irving 
say  that,  "  in  no  part  of  the  war  did  he  more 
thoroughly  evince  that  magnanimity  which 
was  his  grand  characteristic,  than  when  he 
thus  rose  above  the  tauntings  of  the  press,  the 


KANE  m  THE  AECTIC.  123 

sneerings  of  the  cabal,  the  murmurs  of  the 
public,  the  suggestions  of  some  of  his  friends, 
and  the  throbbing  impulses  of  his  own  cou- 
rageous heart,  and  adhered  to  that  policy 
which  he  considered  essential  to  the  safety  of 
the  cailse.  To  dare  is  often  the  impulse  of 
selfish  ambition,  or  hare-brained  valor ;  to  for- 
bear is  at  times  the  proof  of  real  greatness." 

How  sublime  was  the  patience  of  Kane  in 
that  long,  dreary,  second  winter  in  the  Arctic ; 
the  object  of  his  search  unaccomplished ;  his 
plans  baffled,  his  supplies  wasted,  his  men 
crippled,  his  own  frame  broken  by  disease ; 
yet  his  spirit  never  fails,  and  that  noble, 
patient  heart,  maintains  sunshine  and  sum- 
mer through  all  the  polar  night. 

But  it  is  preeminently  in.  woman  that  this 
virtue  of  Patience  is  exemplified,  as  indeed 
her  sphere  gives  more  occasion  for  the  pas- 
sive virtues  than  for  active  and  noisy  hero- 
ism. Often  it  is  given  to  her  to  suifer,  where 
it  is  given  to  man  to  toil ;  and  too  often  does 
woman  suffer  without  due  sympathy  from 
that  sterner  nature  whose  very  toil  she 
sweetens  with  her  gentle   assiduities.     The 


124  THE   CHEISTIAN  GRACES. 

noblest  pages  of  heroism  and  of  martyrdom 
are  unwritten,  save  in  God's  book  of  remem- 
brance ;  for  who  could  write  the  Patience  of 
a  wife's  devotion,  of  a  mother's  love,  in  seek- 
ing salvation  for  her  house  ?  "Where  there  is 
one  Miriam  to  lead  the  song  of  the  exultant 
host,  there  are  a  thousand  Marys  living  in 
obscurity,  pondering  in  their  hearts  the  pro- 
mised redemption,  and  through  ignominy, 
and  disappointment,  and  delay,  and  sorrow 
piercing  like  a  sword,  still  magnifying  the 
Lord,  and  waiting  for  his  salvation,  beside 
the  cross  and  at  the  door  of  the  sepulchre. 
Where  there  is  one  Deborah  to  arouse  the 
tribes  to  battle  with  her  war-chants,  there  are 
a  thousand  Hannahs,  who,  with  silent  but 
agonizing  prayer,  wait  upon  God,  and  who 
bring  their  Samuels  to  his  altar  as  the  sacri- 
fice of  love,  and  faith,  and  hope.  The  mo- 
ther of  the  great  Augustine,  who  for  fifteen 
hundred  years  has  so  largely  moulded  the 
creed  of  the  church,  the  devout  Monica,  had 
in  her  own  household  the  most  bitter  trials. 
Her  husband,  a  proud  and  sensual  Pagan, 
hating  the  cross,  and  hating  her  for  having 


THE  FAITHFUL  MONICA.  125 

embraced  the  cross,  would  not  only  annoy 
her  by  all  manner  of  heathen  orgies  in  the 
house,  but  being  a  man  of  most  violent  tem- 
per, would  turn  upon  her  the  fury  of  his  pas- 
sion. Especially  did  he  seek  to  thwart  her 
religious  influence  over  their  son.  He  brought 
up  Augustine  in  pagan  schools,  and  even 
allowed  him  in  the  vices  of  the  times.  But 
through  all  this  Monica  was  so  gentle,  so 
kind,  so  meek,  so  patient,  so  faithful,  that  at 
length  she  softened  the  tiger  to  a  lamb,  and 
her  husband  before  he  died  accepted  the  faith 
of  Christ.  But  his  evil  example  outlived  him 
in  his  son ;  and  Augustine,  at  twenty,  beau- 
tiful in  person,  brilliant  in  intellect,  had  all 
the  ungodly  impulses  of  his  father's  fiery  na- 
ture, strengthened  by  indulgence,  and  now 
left  without  restraint.  But  Monica  had  given 
him  to  God ;  she  had  scattered  divine  truth 
along  his  path  from  infancy  upward ;  and 
clinging  to  the  unfailing  promises  of  grace,  she 
followed  him  still  with  her  patient  love. 
One  day  she  stood  before  her  pastor,  "the 
tears  streaming  down  her  careworn  cheek," 
and  besought  him  to  use  his  influence  to 
11* 


126  THE   CKRISTIAN   GRACES. 

reclaim  her  son.  "  Wait,^^  said  the  man  of 
God,  "  wccit  patiently/  the  son  of  these  tears 
cannot  perish  J^ 

l^ow  a  popular  teacher  of  rhetoric — Augus- 
tine leaves  Carthagej  which  he  had  found  a 
"  caldron  of  unholy  loves,"  to  seek  his  fortune 
at  Milan,  the  court  of  the  empire.  Tliere,  while 
winning  applause  as  a  rhetorician,  he  pursues 
the  same  godless  and  dissolute  life  amid  the 
gaieties  and  dissipations  of  the  capital.  But 
his  mother  followed  him,  across  the  sea  and 
into  strange  lands ;  and  for  thirteen  years  of 
his  manhood,  she  carries  this  great  sorrow  of 
an  apostate  son,  waiting  upon  him  in  love, 
waiting  upon  God  in  faith,  saying,  "  I  will 
see  him  a  Christian  yet  before  I  die."  At 
length  Patience  has  its  perfect  work.  Before 
she  dies,  Augustine  lives.  And  as  her  star 
of  hope,  which,  had  been  the  only  light  of 
his  stormy  seas,  sinks  to  its  peaceful  rest,  his 
sun  arises  to  illumine  the  church  of  God  from 
age  to  age. 

From  this  analysis  of  the  elements  of  Pa- 
tience, and  these  general  illustrations  of  its 
power,  we  pass  to  consider 


PATIENCE   OF   CUEIST.  127 

II.  The  place  and  value  of  Patience  in 
THE  Christian  charactek. 

1.  This  virtue  of  Patience  we  need  in  all 
our  labors  for  the  cause  of  Christ  and  the  good 
of  men.  In  working  against  evil  we  are 
prone  either  to  irritation  or  to  despondency. 
Our  weak  natures  are  annoyed  by  the  oppo- 
sition we  encounter  in  a  good  cause.  Pe- 
formers  grow  impatient,  unamiable,  violent, 
denunciatory,  because  others  will  not  unite 
with  them  against  a  palpable  and  grievous 
wrong;  or  they  grow  weary  in  well-doing, 
and  give  over  the  world  to  its  fate.  Alas, 
where  had  we  been,  had  Jesus  grown  impa- 
tient in  his  work  and  abandoned  it  because  of 
opposition  or  ill-success.  "  "When  men  have 
great  works  on  hand  their  very  enthusiasm 
runs  to  impatience.  "When  thwarted  or  unrea- 
sonably hindered,  their  soul  strikes  fire  against 
the  obstacles  they  meet,  they  worry  themselves 
at  every  hindrance,  every  disappointment,  and 
break  out  in  strong  and  fanatical  violence. 
But  Jesus  is  just  as  even,  just  as  serene,  in  all 
his  petty  vexations  and  hindrances,  as  if  he  had 
nothing  on  hand  to  do.   He  is  poor  and  hungry, 


128  THE   CHEISTIAIT    GEACE8. 

and  weary  and  despised,  insulted  by  his  enemies, 
deserted  by  liis  friends,  but  never  disheartened, 
never  fretted  or  ruffled."  *  A  sacred  Patience 
invests  him  everywhere.  "  Consider  him  that 
endured  such  contradiction  of  sinners  against 
himself;  lest  ye  be  weary  and  faint  in  your 
mind. 

2.  We  need  this  Patience  under  the  affldc- 
t/lons  and  wrongs  which  we  personally  suffer  / 
afflictions  at  the  hand  of  God,  persecution, 
calumny,  wrong  from  our  fellow-men.  The 
apostle  James  bids  nseven  rejoice  in  the  trials 
that  afflict  us,  "  knowing  that  the  trying  of 
our  faith  worketh  Patience.  Ye  have  heard 
of  the  Patience  of  Job  and  have  seen  the  end 
of  the  Lord,  that  the  Lord  is  very  pitiful  and 
of  tender  mercy."  How  sweet  is  Patience 
under  the  hand  of  God.  It  is  like  sunlight 
and  flowers  in  the  chamber  of  sickness — where 
some  poor  invalid,  bereft  of  fortune,  of  friends, 
of  beauty,  of  health,  of  all  earthly  good,  pos- 
sesses still  that  "  meek  and  quiet  spirit  which 
in  the  sight  of  God  is  of  great  price."    But 

*  Dr.  Bushnell,  "  Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  p.  294. 


NEWTOK  AND  CAELO.  129 

it  is  easier  to  bear  great  and  prolonged  afflic- 
tions which  come  directly  and  visibly  from  the 
hand  of  God,  than  the  petty  vexations  and 
wrongs  which  arise  from  untoward  circumstan- 
ces and  evil  men.  How  few  can  rise  to  the 
self-control  of  Newton,  who  when  he  entered  • 
his  study  and  saw  that  his  dog  had  thrown 
into  the  fire  the  calculations  of  months,  said 
only,  "you  have  done  me  great  mischief, 
Carlo,"  and  sat  down  to  reproduce  his  work. 

"  Kyou  will  put  a  character  to  the  severest  ol 
all  tests,  see  whether  it  can  bear  without  fal- 
tering, the  little  common  ills  and  hindrances 
of  life.  Many  a  man  will  gO  to  his  martyr- 
dom with  a  spirit  of  firmness  and  heroic  com- 
posure, whom  a  little  weariness  or  nervous 
exliaustion,  some  silly  prejudice  or  capricious 
opposition,  w^ould  for  the  moment  throw  into  a 
fit  of  vexation  or  ill-nature.  Great  occasions 
rally  great  principles,  and  brace  the  mind  to 
a  lofty  bearing,  a  bearing  that  is  even  above 
itself.  But  trials  that  make  no  occasion  at  all, 
leave  it  to  show  the  goodness  and  beauty  it 
has  in  its  own  disposition."  * 

»  Dr.  Bushnell,  Nat.'  and  Super,  p.  293. 


130  THE  CHEISTIAN  GEACES. 

This  grace  of  Patience,  tliis  truest  Cliris- 
tian  heroism,  does  not  require  for  its  devel- 
opment the  rough  blasts  of  persecution,  or 
some  high  field  of  labor  and  of  conflict; 
jour  own  home  with  the  little  incidents 
of  every  hour,  your  daily  life  with  its  vexa- 
tions,, disappointments,  and  ills ;  your  business 
with  its  temptations,  its  cares  and  its  losses ; 
is  the  sphere  where  Patience  is  most  required, 
is  best  exemplified.  It  diffuses  over  the  daily 
life  a  quietude  which  is  neither  slackness  nor 
sluggishness,  but  the  blissful  serenity  of  hea- 
ven. 

.  3.  "We  need  Patience  with  respect  to  the 
fulfilling  of  God's  ^lans  of  mercy  for  the 
world.  God's  promises  are  like  century 
plants.  They  grow  silently,  almost  impercep- 
tibly, through  simsliine  and  shade,  through 
wind  and  storm,  by  day  and  night,  and  year 
by  year ;  and  when  the  generation  that  saw 
them  planted,  and  the  generation  that  watched 
their  early  growth,  have  passed  away,  they 
are  living  and  growing  still;  but  when  the 
great  dial  of  the  heavens  has  marked  a  hun- 
.  dred  years,  of  a  suddeti  there  opens  a  flower 


TErST  IN   GOD.  131 

of  matchless  beauty  and  perfection.  But  the 
ages  must  wait  for  it.  Many  a  promise  is  yet 
to  flower ;  many  a  hope  is  yet  to  expand  in 
joy.  "He  is  faithful  that  promised ;  be  ye  fol- 
lowers of  them  who  through  Faith  and  Pa- 
tience inherit  the  promises."  In  the  conflict 
of  principles  and  the  chaos  of  systems ;  in  the 
defeat  of  well-ordered  plans,  and  the  seeming 
overthrow  of  truth  and  virtue  ; — 

"  We  will  trust  God.    The  blank  interstices 
Men  take  for  ruins,  He  will  build  into 
With  pillared  marbles  rare,  or  knit  across 
With  generous  arches,  till  the  fane's  complete." 

"  The  Lord  direct  your  hearts  into  the  love 
of  God,  and  into  the  j^atient  waiting  for 
Christy 


^ 


LECTURE    V 


GODLINESS. 

And  to  Patience  Godliness. — 2  Pete%  i.  6. 

HIS  term,  Godliness,  cannot  be  taken 
in  the  general  sense  of  religion,  since 
it  is  a  certain  something  to  be  added 
to  that  personal  and  practical  faith  in 
Christ,  which  makes  one  truly  a  reli- 
gions man.  The  beginning  of  religiousness, 
or  the  religions  life  in  the  soul,  in  the  Christian 
sense,  is  that  faith  in  Christ  which  brings  the 
soul  to  God  with  confession  for  its  sins,  and 
with  the  consecration  of  its  powers  to  His 
service.  A  religious  man  is  he  who  practi- 
pallj  makes  his  accountability  to  God  the  law 
f  his  life ; — who  is  hound  to  God  with  the 
sense  of  personal  obligation  for  all  that  he 
receives,  in  all  that  he  does.  But  he  who  has 
attained  to  that  precious  faith  in  Christ  which 
delivers  him  from  the  corruption  of  the  world, 


'€}OD-WAKD-NESS.  133 

and  introduces  him  to  tlie  righteousness  of 
God — this  renewed,  and  therefore  religious 
man,  is  still  exhorted  to  add  to  his  faith  vir- 
tue, and  to  virtue  knowledge,  and  to  know- 
ledge temperance,  and  to  temperance  patience, 
and  to  patience  Godliness.  There  must  be, 
therefore,  in  this  term  Godliness,  a  something 
definite  which  we  are  to  cultivate  as  an  ele- 
ment of  the  religious  life.  < 

"Wliat  then,  is  that  Godliness  which  is  capa-  ^^^ 
ble  of  being  nurtured  as  an  addition  to  saving 
faith  in  Christ,  and  to  the  several  virtues  be- 
fore enumerated  ?  Some  understand  the  term 
in  the  old  English  sense  of  god-^^'^e-ness ;  a 
moral  resemblance  to  God — an  assimilation 
to  him  in  character.  But  this  does  not  ex- 
press the  objective  sense  conveyed  in  the 
original  word.  Godi-ward-nQ^?>^  if  we  might 
make  such  a  term,  would  be  nearer  this  than 
God-like-ness ; — a  state  of  mind  which  is 
towa/rd  God,  as  the  sole  object  of  its  adora- 
tion and  religious  reverence,  the  central, 
supreme  object  of  its  trust  and  love,  the  final 
source  of  moral  obligation  and  authority. 
The  word  is  compounded  of  two — one  signi- 
12 

V 


134  THE   CflKISTIAN   GEACES. 

fjing  to  fear  or  reverence,  the  other  riglitlj, 
or  well — a  due  reverence  toward  God.  The 
more  devout  and  discriminating  of  the  old 
Greek  philosophers  used  this  word  to  denote 
that  wise  and  happy  mean  in  religion,  which 
lies  between  the  two  extremes  of  atheism  and 
superstition.  Atheism  is  Godlessness ;  the  un- 
godly are  without  God ;  they  have  no  fear  of 
God  before  theil-  eyes ;  no  awe  of  the  divine 
presence;  no  reverence  for  the  Supreme 
Being ;  no  acknowledgmejit  of  obligation 
toward  Ilim ;  no  regard  for  his  law.  Super- 
stition regards  as  divine  powers  and  agencies, 
things  which  really  lie  within  the  course  of 
nature,  and  the  powers  of  man ;  it  carries  to  ex- 
cess and  absurdity  the  spirit  of  religious  vene- 
ration, applying  to  mere  natural  objects  and 
events,  or  human  persons,  or  imaginary  things, 
the  sentiment  of  reverence  which  God  alone 
should  command.  Between  atheism — the  ab- 
sence of  all  recognition  of  God  and  all  reve- 
rence for  a  higher  power — and  superstition^  a 
weak  and  credulous  belief  in  supernatural 
powers  and  agencies,  which  causes  the  mind 
to  fear  and  venerate  creatures  of  sense  or  of 


EEVERENCE   TOWARD   GOD.  135 

imagination  as  if  these  were  God — ^between 
tliose  opposite  poles  lies  true  Godliness^  or 
Godwardness — a  just  reverence  toward  God, 
whicli  controls  our  moral  conduct  by  the  love 
and  the  fear  of  God.  This  I  take  to  be  the 
meaning  of  Godliness  in  the  text.*    And  this 

*  The  term  evailSeta  {eusehia)  here  translated  Godliness,  is 
used  in  the  New  Testament  to  denote  that  reverence  toward 
God,  which  is  a  spontaneous  feeling  of  the  heart  in  view  of 
his  character.  (See  in  Robinson.)  Cornelius  was  "  a  devout 
man,  {evaef^rjg)  and  feared  Gody  The  prevailing  use  of 
evcslSeia  by  classic  writers  gives  to  it  this  same  objective 
sense.  Plato,  Thucydides,  Demosthenes,  use  it  to  express 
veneration  toward  the  Deity  {  irpbg  Qeovg).  See  in  Stepha- 
nus,  Suidas,  and  Passow  ed.  Rost  und  Palm.  In  the  "  De- 
finitions" sometimes  ascribed  to  Plato,  evaelSeca  is  defined 
to  be  AiKacoGvvT]  Trept'Oeovc,  that  which  is  just,  fitting, 
meet,  as  toward  the  gods.  The  Stoics  defined  it  to 
be  hTncTTiinj  Qeov  depaTreiag — the  appreciative  or  becoming 
service  of  the  gods.  Stephanus  defines  it  by  religiositas ; 
thus  expressing  the  same  idea  of  reverence  toward  God. 
DeWette,  in  his  note  upon  2  Peter,  i.  6,  says  Ehrfurcht  und 
Liehe  gegen  Gott ;  veneration  and  love  toward  God.  This 
use  of  the  word  precludes  the  idea  of  God-^iA;e-ness,  and 
favors  the  less  euphonious,  but  more  expressive  term,  God- 
ward-ness.  It  denotes  also,  something  deeper  than  a  for- 
mal outward  reverence  for  the  commands  of  God,  and  refers 
directly  to  the  reverenc<4  of  the  soul  toward  Him. 


136  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

you  will  perceive  may  be  grafted  upon  faith, 
along  witli  otlier  virtues  and  graces,  as  a  dis- 
tinct element  of  the  Christian  character  of  life. 
One  may  have  a  certain  faith  in  Christ, 
who  is  yet  wanting  in  a  just  and  commanding 
reverence  toward  God.  A  mind  that  believes 
in  Christ  as  historically  revealed  in  the  New 
Testament,  accepts  him  as  a  real  person  and 
a  manifestation  of  God,  accepts  him  as  a 
divine  teacher,  and  even  regards  his  death  as 
in  some  way  connected  with  the  redemption 
and  reformation  of  mankind,  but  which  does 
not  recognize  a  necessity  for  that  death  as  an 
atonement  between  human  guilt  and  divine 
justice,  is  wanting  in  that  Godliness  of  which 
the  apostle  speaks.  It  has  not  attained  to  that 
reverence  for  God  in  the  holiness  of  his  Being 
and  the  purity  of  his  Law,  which  was  felt  by 
Moses,  by  Isaiah,  by  David,  by  Paul,  and 
which  when  felt  makes  the  atonement  at  once 
a  moral  necessity  for  the  soul  itself,  and  a  legal 
necessity  for  the  divine  government.  A  belief 
in  Christ  as  teacher,  leader,  hero,  martyr,  may 
exist  without  Godliness ;  but  when  the  soul  at- 
tains to  a  just  reverence  for  Go'd  himself,  when 


GODLY  FEAE.  137 

it  stands  in  awe  of  that  purity  before  whicli 
Moses  trembled,  and  Isaiah  cried  "  wo  is  me, 
for  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips,"  then  will  it 
have  a  view  of  the  enormity  of  sin,  of  the 
majesty  of  holiness,  of  the  awful  purity  of  love, 
of  the  inflexible  rectitude  of  God  as  the  law- 
giver, which  shall  compel  its  faith  in  Christ  as 
its  Redeemer,  and  in  his  atoning  sacrifice  as 
its  only  approach  to  God  as  a  Father. 

A  mind  that  looks  to  Christ  as  the  author 
of  a  universal  and  indiscriminate  salvation 
for  the  race,  and  admits  no  distinction  in  the 
results  of  probation  between  those  who  accept 
and  those  who  reject  the  terms  of  that  salva- 
tion, is  surely  wanting  in  this  Godliness.  A 
just  reverence  for  God  as  lawgiver  and  judge, 
a  just  estimate  of  his  truth  and  love  as  con- 
serving the  order  and  beauty  of  the  universe, 
a  just  contemplation  of  his  holiness*  filling 
that  mind  with  awe,  would  cause  it  to  throw 
aside  such  vague  and  eas^^  faith,  and  to  regard 
the  admonition  of  the  apostle,  "let  us  hold 
fast  grace,  whereby  we  may  serve  God  accept- 
ably, with  reverence  and  Godly  fea/r — ^for  our 
God  is  a  consuming  fire." 
12* 


138  THE   CHEISTIAJN^   GRACES. 

And  among  tliose  wlio  hold  fast  as  a  form 
of  sound  words  tlie  doctrines  of  atonement, 
of  justification  by  faith,  of  future  judgment 
and  retribution — are  not  many  deficient  in  that 
•reverence  and  godly  fear  by  which  alone  we 
can  serve  God  acceptably  ?  Add  to  your  faith 
this  Godliness.  "  Sanctify  the  Lord  of  hosts 
in  your  hearts,  and  let  Him  be  your  fear." 

And  if  even  Faith  in  some  sort  and  degree 
may  exist  without  genuine  Godliness,  it  is 
quite  obvious  that  all  the  other  virtues  named 
in  the  text  may  be  to  some  extent  manifested 
by  a  soul  yet  lacking  this.  One  may  have 
moral  courage  and  persistence  in  what  he 
regards  as  right  and  duty ;  may  cultivate  a 
knowledge  of  divine  truth  Jteay  attain  to  per- 
fect self-control,  and  be  exemplary  in  patience 
under  sufi'ering  and  wrong  ;  and  yet  none  of 
these  virtues  may  spring  from  or  descend  to 
the  central  life  of  his  being  ;  and  he  may  be 
wanting  in  that  veneration  for  God  which 
would  enthrone  Him  in  the  inner  sanctuary 
of  the  soul  as  its  divinity  and  its  law. 
"  Wherefore  giving  all  diligence,  add  to  your 
faith  virtue,  and  to  virtue  knowledge,  and  \o 


Ai«^   INWAKD    STATE.  •      139 

knowledge   temperance,    and  to  temperance 
patience,  and  to  patience  Godliness." 

From  this  general  outline  of  thonglit  in  the 
text  we  pass  to  consider  : 

I.  The  essential  characteristics  of  God- 
liness. 

n.  The  modes  of  its  expression. 
in.  Its  various  counterfeits. 
lY.  The  motives  to  its  exercise. 

As  a  characteristic  of  this  grace  it  should 
be  noted, 

1.  That  it  is  most  inward  in  its  seat  and 
power.  It  is  a  sentiment  or  feeling  of  the  soul 
toward  God — of  one  intelligent  personal  mind 
toward  another  to  which  it  owes  its  venera- 
tion and  homage.  The  apostle  Paul  has  in 
view  this  internal  spiritual  quality  of  true 
Godliness,  when,  writing  to  Timothy,  he  says 
"  follow  after  righteousness.  Godliness,  faith, 
love,  patience,  meekness."  Here  Godliness  is 
distinguished  from  righteousness — God-fearing 
in  the  soul,  from  right-doing  in  the  outward 
conduct.  Righteousness^  2i^  it  stands  in  this 
catalogue  of  Christian  qualities,  denotes  rec- 


140  THE   CHKISTIAN   GRACES. 

titude  of  action ;  Godliness  points  to  the 
inward  spring  of  that  action,  and  the  ground 
of  its  righteousness,  in  a  just  sentiment  of 
veneration  toward  God.  True  Godliness  has 
the  soul  for  its  seat  and  God  for  its  object.  All 
dependence  upon  foiTQS  of  worship  as  suffi- 
cient, all  substitution  of  outward  religious 
services  for  an  inward  God-fearing  spirit,  is 
but  "the  form  of  Godliness"  without  its 
power.  All  religious  homage  paid  to  crea- 
tures of  whatever  grade  is  a  superstition 
which  dishonors  God.  Godliness  makes  God 
himself,  in  his  being,  his  character,  and  his 
law,  the  one  sole  object  of  religious  homage ; 
and  it  consists  not  primarily  in  acts  of  wor- 
ship or  forms  of  service — ^though  these  may 
give  it  expression — ^but  it  is  the  sentiment 
itself  of  the  soul,  its  humble,  reverent,  devout 
recognition  of  God  as  the  all  in  all.  "  Sanctify 
the  Lord  God  in  your  hearts. 

2.  This  sentiment  is  equally  compounded  of 
love  and  fear."^  That  veneration  or  reverence 
toward  God  which  is  trae  piety,  is  grounded 

*  "  Ehrfurcht  und  Liebe  gegen  Gott."— Db  Wette  in  loc. 


SUPEESTITIOrS   FEAE.  141 

in  a  love  of  his  holiness.  There  is  a  vene- 
ration whose  chief  element  is  awe ;  a  rever- 
ence for  dignity,  station,  greatness,  power, 
which  is  cold  and  formal  and  distant — com- 
pelled by  an  overpowering  sense  of  the 
superiority  of  its  object,  but  not  kindled  by 
love  for  that  object.  Such  is  the  veneration 
which  barbarian  tribes  manifest  for  the  mys- 
terious powers  of  Nature — a  vague  dread  of 
the  invisible,  an  awe  of  that  power  which 
utters  its  voice  in  the  thunder  and  the  earth- 
quake— a  superstitious  fear,  like  that  which 
steals  over  the  coolest  and  bravest  when  night 
comes  on  in  the  lonely  forest  or  in  the  wild- 
ness  and  solitude  of  unknown  mountains. 
Such  was  the  reverence  of  our  pagan  ances- 
tors for  those  mysterious  powers  which  th*ey 
worshipped  with  dark  and  bloody  rites  amid 
the  swamps  and  forests  of  ancient  Britain. 
Such  is  the  reverence  of  the  native  tribes  of 
Africa  for  the  spirits  of  their  ancestors,  and 
for  demons  which  are  supposed  to  produce 
disease  and  death. 

But  the  veneration  of  the  Christian  mind 
for  God,  is  not  a  dim  awe  of  invisible  power, 


142  THE   CHRISTIAN   GKACE8. 

a  dread  of  that  Almighty  force  which  heaped 
up  the  Kioiintains  and  gave  the  sea  it^ 
bounds,  which  utters  its  voice  in  the  heavens, 
and  shakes  terribly  the  earth ; — ^the  venera- 
tion of  the  Christian  for  his  God  is  a  reve- 
rence for  that  which  is  greater  than  physical 
force,  however  sublime  and  terrible,  even  the 
greatness  of  a  good,  and  just,  and  holy  char- 
acter ;  a  reverence  which  does  not  arise  from 
nervous  tremor,  or  some  terror  of  the  ima^i- 
nation,  but  is  seated  in  the  intellect  and  in 
the  heart ;  a  reverence  which  is  proportioned, 
not  to  ignorance,  but  to  intelligence ;  which 
does  not  feed  itself  upon  mystery,  but  in- 
creases with  the  right  knowledge  of  God. 
Compared  with  such  a  reverence  as  this,  the 
sentimental  adoration  of  poets  for  the  divinity 
they  see  in  mountains  and  waterfalls,  in 
clouds  and  forests,  in  tempests  and  the  sea,  is 
as  empty  of  Godliness  as  is  the  rudest  super- 
stition of  pagan  minds.  Godliness  springs 
from  an  appreciation  of  the  character  of  God, 
especially  in  that  feature  of  it  which  least 
impresses  the  senses  or  the  natural  mind — its 
perfect,  infinite,  and  unchanging  holiness.     It 


MASSA  BELLAMY.  143 

is  an  appreciative  regard'  for  this  as  the 
highest  grandeur  of  the  universe ;  it  is  an  in- 
telligent love  of  this,  as  the  glory  of  the 
divine  nature,  which  lies  at  the  root  of  all 
ti-ue  Godliness. 

The  poet  Shellej  disowned  a  personal  God ; 
yet  what  one  has  aptly  styled  "  the  atheistic 
hunger  of  his  soul"  caused  him  to  fill  the 
universe  with  invisible  powers  to  which  he 
paid  that  credulous  homage  which  atheism 
always  pays  to  mystery.  Compare  the  most 
sublime  and  terrible  imaginations  of  this 
gifted  but  godless  poet,  with  that  homage  to 
God  paid  by  the  pious  old  negro  who  sat 
under  the  preaching  of  Dr.  Bellamy,  and  after 
hearing  his  grand  discourses  on  the  divine 
character  and  government — discourses  whose 
metaphysical  acumen  far  transcended  his 
feeble  intellect,  but  whose  moral  sublimity 
stirred  his  sensitive  and  emotional  nature — 
exclaimed,  "Oh,  Massa  Bellamy,  he  make 
God  so  lig^  so  big  ;" — and  tell  me  if  there  is 
not  more  of  poetry  and  pathos  in  the  godly 
adoration  of  that  simple  mind,  than  in  all  that 
Shelley,  and  Byron,  and  Goethe  and  Emerson 


144  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

have  said   and  sung  of  a  universe  without 
God. 

But  with  this  love  and  adoration  of  the 
character  of  God,  should  mingle  always  a 
salutary  awe  of  his  majesty.     "Perfect  love 
casteth  out  fear ; — ^it  dispossesses  the  mind  of 
that  slavish  fear  of  God  which  Superstition 
nurtures,  and  which  Atheism  cannot  wholly 
set  aside; — ^love   casts  out  the  terror  of  the 
slave ;  but  a  true  love  for  God  cherishes  that 
awe  of  his  holiness  and  justice   and  power, 
which  the   Bible    always    attributes   to   the 
righteous  man  as  the  fear  of  the  Lord.     "  By 
the  fear  of  the  Lord  men  depart  from  evil." 
We  serve  God  acceptably,  when  we  walk  be- 
fore   him    with  reverence    and   godly  fear. 
When  Isaiah  had  a  vision  of  the  Lord  upon  his 
throne,  that  which  filled  his  soul  with  awe 
was  not  the  splendor  of  the  throne  itself,  nor 
the  glory  of  the  seraphim,  nor  the  quaking  of 
the  temple,  nor  the  fire  and  smoke  that  filled 
the  house — ^but  that  ceaseless  cry  of  cherubim 
and  seraphim,  Holy^  holt,  HOLY.     "  Woe  is 
me,"  cried  the  prophet,  "  I  am  undone ;  for 
I  am  a  man   of  unclean  lips."     But  when 


REVERENCE   IN   PRAYER.  145 

tlio^e  lips  were  touched  with  a  live  coal  from 
the  altar,  and  his  iniquity  was  taken  away, 
the  prophet  could  offer  himself  to  the  Lord  as 
a  willing  and  grateltl  servant.  This  is  true 
Godliness ; — the  Jiomage  of  the  soul  towa/rd 
God  in  reverence  cmd  love  for  his  character. 
And  while  we  cherish  every  virtue  and  grace 
that  has  reference  to  the  right  government  of 
our  inferior  propensities,  and  the  right  regula- 
tion of  our  outward  conduct,  Ave  must  give  all 
diligence  to  cherish  in  our  inmost  souls  this 
sentiment  offilial  reverence  toward  God. 

n.  What  are  the  modes  of  its  expres- 
sion ? 

1.  We  should  cherish  this  reverence  for 
the  heing  of  God^  when  we  approach  Rim  in 
prayer.  The  prayers  of  godly  men  recorded 
in  the  Old  Testament  are  always  marked  with 
a  deep  sentiment  of  reverence.  Abraham 
and  Moses,  and  Samuel  and  David,  with  all 
their  importunity  in  supplication,  were  filled 
with  reverence  and  godly  fear  when  they 
drew  nigh  to  God  in  prayer.  Some  seem  to 
imagine  that  such  reverence  belonged  'to  the 
13 


146  THE    CHRISTIAN    GRACES. 

dimness  and  mystery  of  the  earlier  Revelation, 
and  that  tlirougli  Christ  we  have  more  free  and 
familiar  converse  with  God.  Blessed  be 
God,  we  have  the  freest  access  to  his  mercy- 
seat,  and  may  come  even  with  boldness — with 
unfaltering  confidence,  to  the  throne  of  grace. 
"  God  hath  sent  forth  his  Spirit  into  our  hearts, 
crying  Abba,  Father."  But  has  not  filial 
piety  the  element  of  reverence  as  well  as  of 
love  ?  With  what  reverence  did  Christ  him- 
self approach  the  Father  in  prayer.  "Holy 
Father,  keep  through  thine  own  name  those 
whom  thou  hast  given  me.  .  .  O  righteous 
Father,  the  world  hath  not  known  thee.  .  . 
Father,  if  thou  wilt  remove  this  cup  from  me, 
nevertheless  not  my  will,  but  thine,  be  done." 
"What  reverence,  what  submission,  what  God- 
liness is  here!  "In  the  days  of  his  flesh 
when  he  had  ofifered  up  prayers  and  suppli- 
cations with  strong  crying  and  tears,  to  him 
that  was  able  to  save  him  from  death,  he  was 
heard  in  that  he  feared,"  or  as  the  margin 
reads,  was  heard  for  hi^  piety.  Tliis  last  is 
evidently  the  true  meaning ;  as  Tyndale  and 
Luther  both  gix^e  it  in  their  versions,  he  was 


THE   NAME   OF   GOD.  147 

lieard  "because  he  liad  God  in  reverence." 
His  filial  veneration  and  submission  brought 
to  him  succoring  angels  from  the  presence  of 
his  Father.  And  if  Christ  so  prayed,  surely 
reverence  becomes  us  sinners  before  God. 
The  godly  man  will  be  always  reverential  in 
prayer. 

2.  We  should  cherish  reverence  for  the 
name  of  God.  A  promised  sign  of  the  return 
of  Israel  to  God's  favor  was  this  :  "  they  shall 
sanctify  my  name,  and  sanctify  the  Holy  One 
of  Jacob,  and  shall  fear  the  God  of  Israel." 
So  in  the  time  of  Ezekiel  when  the  people 
were  in  captivity,  Jehovah  said,  "I  have 
pity  for  my  holy  name ;.  and  I  will  sanctify 
my  great  name  which  was  profaned  among 
the  heathen,  which  ye  have  profaned  in  the 
midst  of  them ;  and  the  heathen  shall  know 
that  I  am  the  Lord,  saith  the  Lord  God,  when 
I  shall  be  sanctified  in  you  before  their  eyesi" 
"  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  J^ord 
thy  God  in  vain."  This  reverence  for  the 
name  of  God  was  not  peculiar  to  his  guardian- 
ship over  Israel  as  a  nation.  Has  not  the 
Saviour  taught    us   to   pray,   "  Our    Father 


148  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

which    art    in    heaven,    Hallowed    be     thy 
name  ?" 

Tlie  ancient  Jews  had  a  superstitious  rever- 
ence for  the  proper  name  of  Jehovah  which 
forbade  them  to  pronounce  or  even  to  write  it. 
Indeed,  some  critics  are  of  opinion  that  by 
reason  of  this  superstition  we  have  lost  the 
true  spelling  and  pronunciation  of  the  name 
of  the  great  I  AM,  as  given  to  Moses.  My 
own  Jewish  teacher  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  on 
coming  to  the  name  Jehovah  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, would  invariably  pause  and  pass  it  in 
reverential  silence.  A  Mohammedan  who 
cannot  read  will  carefully  preserve  every 
scrap  of  writing  which  he  may  find,  lest  it 
should  contain  the  name  of  God,  which  it 
would  be  blasphemy  to  mutilate.  While  we 
disavow  such  superstition,  let  us  cherish  a  true 
reverence  for  the  name  of  God.  Those  who 
have  once  been  profane,  when  truly  converted, 
show  the  genuineness  of  their  change  by  the 
deep  reverence  of  their  minds  for  the  name  of 
the  Lord.  ITow  much  of  this  appears  in  the 
writings  of  John  ITewton  and  John  Bunyan, 
who  were    once    accustomed  to  profane   the 


REVERENCE   EOF.   LAW.  149 

name  of  tlie  Lord.  The  godly  man  will  never 
use  lightly  the  name  of  Jehovah,  to  enliven 
an  anecdote  or  point  a  joke. 

3.  True  Godliness  implies  a  reverence/bT* 
tlie  law  of  God^  as  the  siijpreme  and  final  rule 
of  moral  action.  "  Tliy  word  have  I  hid  in 
my  heart,  that  I  might  not  sin  against  thee." 
It  is  one  thing  to  be  in  terror  of  the  law  of 
God  as  the  symbol  of  his  government  over  us, 
and  of  its  penalties  as  threatened  upon  the 
disobedient,  and  quite  another  to  revere 
that  law  in  our  hearts  for  its  intrinsic  holi- 
ness and  purity,  and  as  a  written  expression 
of  the  character  of  God.  The  Israelites  had 
8U0I1  a  terror  of  the  concomitants  of  the  law 
at  Sinai,  the  thunder,  and  lightning,  and 
smoke,  and  earthquake,  and  the  voice  of  the 
trumpet,  that  they  cried  to  Moses,  "  Let  not 
God  speak  with  us,  lest  we  die."  Buf  when 
these  outward  demonstrations  at  the  giving  of 
the  law  suljsided,  and  Sinai  smiled  in  peace, 
under  the  cloudless  sun,  and  its  own  resplen- 
dent cloud,  now  silent,  grew  familiar,  so  ut- 
terly wanting  were  they  in  reverence  for  the 
law  of  God  that  they  violated  its  first  com- 
13* 


150  THE   CIIKI8TIAN   GRACES. 

mandment,  and  made  a  molten  calf  in  the 
very  face  of  Him  wlio  had  said,  "  Thou  shalt 
not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image."  It 
is  one  thing  to  fear  law,  as  law  with  penalty, 
and  another  to  reverence  God  in  his  law. 

4.  We  should  cherish  also  a  profound  reve- 
rence/b/'  the  will  of  God  as  manifested  in  his 
providence.  If  that  will  calls  to  suffering,  the 
godly  heart  will  say,  "  Let  the  Lord  do  that 
which  is  goo^  in  his  sight ;"  ''  I  opened  not 
my  mouth,  because  thou  didst  it."  Tlie  godly 
mind  rises  above  all  secondary  causes  in  nature, 
and  all  intermediate  human  agencies,  to  per- 
ceive and  acknowledge  the  hand  of  God  in  its 
afflictions,  and  with  deepest  humility  and  reve- 
rence to  say,  "  Father,  thy  w^ill  be  done."  This 
submissiveness  is  not  a  passive  bending  of  the 
mind  to  the  necessity  of  its  condition  ;  it  is  a 
calm  and  even  blissful  acquiescence  in  the 
will  of  God,  as  the  highest  manifestation  of 
good. 

If  the  will  of  God  calls  us  to  action,  our- 
devout  inquiry  will  be,  "  Lord  what  wilt  thou 
have  us  to  do?"  The  mind  which  has  en- 
throned God  in  its  thoughts,  affections,  pur- 


GAIN   NOT   GODLINESS.  151 

poses,  as  the  one  object  of  its  reverence,  the 
centre  and  source  of  authority,  can  have  no 
desire  or  plan  for  itself  but  to  know  the  will 
of  God.  Such  a  one  has  "  meat  to  eat "  that 
the  world  knows  not  of.  The  will  of  the 
Father  becomes  incorporated  with  his  very 
being — his  life,  his  strength,  his  abiding  joy. 

Having  now  set  forth  the  nature  of  true 
Godliness  and  the  modes  of  its  manifestation, 
it  is  important  that  we  should, 

III.    GUAED  AGAINST  ITS  COUNTERFEITS. 

The  Scriptures  caution  us  against  two  coun- 
terfeits of  Godliness — the  one  having  refer- 
ence chiefly  to  the  inward  conception  of  piety, 
the  other  to  its  outward  expression. 

1.  We  are  cautioned  not  to  confound  gain 
with  'Godliness.  The  apostle  Paul  warns 
Timothy  against  "  men  of  corrupt  minds  and 
destitute  of  the  truth,  supposing  that  gain  is 
Godliness."  At  first  view  this  seems  a  strange 
and  almost  incredible  form  of  heresy.  But 
call  to  mind  the  fact  that  under  the  Old  Test- 
ament dispensation  temporal  prosperity  was 
promised  to  godly  living,  and  you  will  readily 


152  THE    CHRISTIAN    GRACES. 

see  how  tlie  idea  miglit  arise,  as  it  did,  that 
outward,  prosperity  was  always  a  mark  of  in- 
ward piety.  ThiiB  the  friends  of  Job  reasoned 
that  his  afflictions  were  a  consequence  and  a 
proof  of  sin.  Perverse  men  would  both  use 
religion  as  a  means  of  gain,  and  would  tlien 
make  their  pecuniary  success  an  evidence  of 
their  Godliness.  The  heresy  is  not  so  strange 
as  at  first  it  appears. 

If  we  turn  to  the  Epistle  of  James,  wo  shall 
find  evidence  that  this  tendency  to  reckon  gain 
as  Godliness  had  so  far  crept  into  the  churches 
as  to  call  for  special  rebuke — ^'  If  there  come 
into  your  assembly,  a  man  with  a  gold  ring, 
in  goodly  apparel,  and  there  come  in  also  a 
poor  man  in  cheap  clothing ;  and  ye  have  re- 
spect to  him  that  weareth  the  gay  clothing,  and 
say  to  him  sit  thou  here  in  a  good  place  ;  and 
say  to  the  poor,  stand  thou  there,  or  sit  thou 
here  under  my  footstool ;  do  ye  not  judge  with 
evil  thoughts  ?"  The  early  Christians  in  their 
weakness  and  poverty  were  in  great  danger 
of  counting  gain  as  Godliness,  and  of  regard- 
ing a  man  with  a  gold  ring  and  gay  aj^parel 
as    a    greater    acquisition    to  their  numbers 


POETIC    GODLINESS.  163 

than  one  meanly  dressed,  however  pious. 
It  is  to  be  feared  that  this  heresy,  though 
strongly  condemned  by  Paul  and  James,  is  not 
entirely  rooted  out  of  the  churches ;  that  there 
are  still  those  who  measure  the  worth  of 
Christians  by  their  standing  on  the  assessor's 
list,  and  who  estimate  the  strength  of  churches 
by  the  bank  accounts  of  their  members. 
This  substitution  of  gain  for  Godliness  is  one 
of  the  most  subtile  and  depraving  devices  of 
the  enemy  of  souls.  It  is  making  a  calf  of 
gold  under  the  very  brow  of  Sinai,  and  setting 
aside  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  for  an  image  of 
Mammon. 

2.  The  other  error  is  thus  characterized  by 
Paul.  He  speaks  of  men  who  are  "  lovers  of 
their  own  selves ;  lovers  of  pleasures  more 
than  lovfeft  of  God  " — who  yet  have  a  form  of 
Godliness  hut  deny  the  ^ower  thereof.  Mani- 
fold are  the  forms  under  which  such  Godli- 
ness appears.  There  is  d^jgoetic  form  of  Godli- 
ness ;  a  sentiment  which  takes  the  air  of  rever- 
ence and  breathes  the  name  of  the  divinity, 
when  singing  of  the  grander  fo;rms  of  N'ature, 
or  the  more  sublime  and  terrible  of  her  phe- 


154  THE   CIIEISTIAN    GEACES. 

nomena.  The  old  Greek  and  Latin  poetiy 
peopled  the  invisible  witli  gods,  whose  pre- 
sence and  agency  it  represented  in  all  the  mys- 
teries of  nature,  and  in  all  leading  events  of 
human  experience.  Tlie  machinery  of  Homer's 
great  epic  lies  within  the  supernatural ;  the 
gods  played  their  part  in  every  Greek  tragedy. 
Indeed  we  know  the  religion  of  Greece  and 
Rome  mainly  through  their  literature.  Modern 
poets  and  novelists  who  would  scorn  the  epi- 
thet ,  religious  or  godly  as  applied  to  them- 
selves, yet  indulge  largely  in  veneration  for 
unseen  powers  and  the  mysteries  of  being. 
But  w^liile  true  Godliness  is  due  venef-ation 
for  God,  not  all  veneration  is  Godliness.  A 
phrenological  organ  of  veneration,  however 
largely  developed,  is  not  a  sure  indication  of 
Godliness  in  the  heart.  To  feel  melancholy  at 
sight  of  falling  leaf,  to  be  stirred  with  admira- 
tion at  a  gorgeous  sunset,  to  feel  the  majesty 
of  mountains  and  the  sea,  and  the  dim  grandeur 
of  the  forest — this  is  not  Godliness.  It  may 
lead  the  soul  to  God,  or  it  may  not  lie  deeper 
than  the  sentient  and  the  imaginative. 

There  is  an  artistic  or  esthetic  form  of  God- 


RITUALISTIC   GODLINESS.  155 

liness.  The  Greek  mind,  wliicli  under  the 
fairest  clime  and  the  most  liberal  government 
was  stimulated  to  the  highest  culture  in  taste 
and  art,  expressed  its  devotion  through  artis- 
tic forms,  especially  in  sculpture.  Hence 
Paul  speaks  of  the  carefulness  of  the  Athe- 
nians in  matters  of  religion  as  exhibited  in  the 
number  of  their  objects  of  devotion.  The 
Gothic  mind,  trained  amid  the  grandeur  of 
forests  and  under  the  law  of  feudalism, 
embodied  its  devout  sentiment  in  the  majes- 
tic and  aspiring  yet  sombre  beauty  of  its 
type  of  architecture.  But  taste  and  art,  how* 
ever  subsidiary  to  the  expression  of  devo; 
tion,  can  never  be  of  the  essence  of  Godliness. 
When  made  an  end  in  themselves  or  dis- 
proportionately regarded,  instead  of  assisting 
devotion  they  displace  all  true  reverence  of 
thought  and  feeling  from  the  soul. 

There  is  a  ritualistic  form  of.  Godliness, 
Avhich  substitutes  a  form  of  praying  for  heart- 
felt prayer  ;  an  ordinance  or  ceremony  for  the 
fact  or  truth  it  was  designed  to  illustrate  and 
convey ;  a  type  or  symbol  for  the  reality 
which  it  should  only  express  to  the  eye.    It  is 


156  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

to  sucli  an  abuse  and  excess  of  forms  indeed, 
that  the  term  formalism  is  distinctively  ap- 
plied. The  Hindoo  devotee,  the  Moslem  saint, 
the  monastic  of  the  Papal  and  Oriental 
churches,  are  common  illustrations  of  this 
form  of  Godliness.  But  the  exhibition  is  not 
confined  to  those  who  make  their  ritual  con- 
spicuous, and  pray  by  rote  or  routine.  Where 
no  audible  form  of  prayer  or  of  worship  is 
used,  there  may  be  a  mere  pantomime  as 
empty  of  spiritual  life  as  are  the  whir  and 
jingle  of  a  Japanese  prayer- wheel.  Whoever 
uses  his  form  of  worship,  be  this  simple  or 
elaborate,  as  worship  itself,  while  yet  there  is 
no  power  of  true  religion  in  the  soul,  denies 
the  power .  of  Godliness,  however  zealous  for 
its  form. 

There  is  a  dogmatio  form  of  Godliness,  a 
creed-worship,  a  veneration  for  dogmas  and 
authorities  in  religion.  This  may  take  quite 
the  opposite  direction  from  the  former  ten- 
dencies ;  and  denouncing  alike  the  sentimen- 
tal, the  artistic,  and  the  ritualistic,  as  wanting 
in  true  Godliness,  may  insist  upon  a  form  of 
sound  words  as  the  one  essential  in  true  piety. 


WOEK.  GODLINESS.  167 

Where  true  piety  exists,  tlie  form  of  sound 
words  may  do  mucli  for  its  conservation,  as 
the  apostle  writes  to  Timothy,  "  Hold  fast  the 
form  of  sound  words,  which  thou  hast  heard  of 
me,  in  faith  and  love  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus." 
But  if  faith  and  love  are  wanting,  the  form  ol 
sound  words,  an  orthodox  confession,  can 
neither  produce  them  nor  supply  their  place. 
Wherever  the  creed  is  put  before  the  life  as 
evidence  of  piety,  the  profession  of  .the  lips 
before  the  confession  of  the  heart,  there  the 
form  of  Godliness  is  substituted  for  its  power. 
There  is  a  mechanical  worh-^ovm.  of  Godli- 
ness. This  puts  all  the  religious  energy  of 
the  soul  into  such  outward  visible  acts  as  seem 
to  be  deeds  of  piety,  but  which  may  be  only 
deeds  of  self-righteousness.  The  Jews  of 
Paul's  time  had  a  zeal  of  God  which  was  far 
from  true  Godliness.  "  Being  ignorant  of 
God's  righteousness,  and  going  about  to  esta- 
blish their  own  righteousness,  they  did  not 
submit  to  the  righteousness  of  God."  It  is 
quite  -possible  under  our  Protestant  system  to 
use  a  routine  of  religious  and  charitable  acti- 
vities as  the  most  superstitious  Papist  uses  a 
14 


158  THE   CHEISTIAlir   GEACES. 

round  of  ceremonies.  The  methodical  and 
laborious  Southey  was  once  describing  to  a 
friend  his  minute  allotment  of  time  for  his 
diversified  labors  in  reading  and  writing ;  such 
an  hour  being  given  to  French,  the  next  to 
Spanish,  the  next  to  a. Review,  the  next  to 
classics,  the  next  to  history,  etc. ;  "  but  pray 
Mr.  Southey,"  interrupted  the  friend,  "  at 
what  time  do  you  think  ?"  Might  it  not  be 
asked  of  some  who  abound  in  the  drill-work 
of  religion,  "  at  what  time  do  you  pray  ?" 

lY.  The  motives  foe   cultivating  a  teue*" 
Godliness. 

1.  That  God  is  as  lie  is.  Could  we  but 
form  a  conception  of  God  as  revealed  in  the 
Scriptures,  sturdy  we  must  bow  reverently  and 
walk  softly  before  Him.  Great  as  is  this 
material  universe  whose  orbs  are  yet  uncounted 
by  the  telescope,  whose  distances  are  yet 
unmeasured  by  the  calculus,  it  is  but  the 
Avord  of  the  Almighty.  Great  as  is  the  uni- 
verse of  mind,  from  man  up  through  angel 
and  archangel  to  the  incomprehensible  sera- 
phim, this  is  but  the  breath  of  the  Almighty. 


BLESSING   OF   GODLINESS.  159 

But  In  liis  Holiness  we  behold  a  grandeur 
greater  tlian  in  liis  Essence,  and  before  that 
all  heaven  adores.  Cherubim  and  seraphim 
bow  with  reverence,  not  before  the  mere  pre- 
sence of  Jehovah — 

"  Where  the  shadow  from  the  throne, 
rormless  with  infinity, 
Hovers  o'er  the  crystal  sea ;" — 

but  before  HIM  whose  Holiness  shames  even 
the  purity  of  their  natures,  and  awes  souls 
untouched  by  sin. 

2.  The  Uessedness  of  Godliness  loth  here 
and  in  the  hereafter.  ''  Godliness  is  profit- 
able unto  all  things,  having  promise  of  the  life 
that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 
"  Godliness  with  contentment  is  great  gain." 
"  What  man  is  he  that  feareth  the  Lord  ?  him 
shall  he  teach  in  the  way  that  he  shall  choose. 
His  soul  shall  dwell  at  ease,  and  his  seed  shall 
inherit  the  earth. .  The  secret  of  the  Lord  is 
with  them  that  fear  Him,  and  he  will  show 
them  his  covenant."  Such  Scriptuies  do  not 
promise  material  riches  and  earthly  honors  as 
the  absolute  and  uniform  possession  of  those 


160  THE   CKRISTIAN   GRACES. 

who  fear  God ;  but  tliey  do  insure  God's 
blessing  upon  those  virtues  of  industry  and 
temperance  and  frugality  which  Godliness 
enjoins;  they  do  insure  the  protecting  love 
and  the  favoring  providence  of  Jehovah. 
The  fear  of  the  Lord  in  the  heart  brings  the 
favor  of  the  Lord  upon  the  life.  Godliness  is 
peace ;  Godliness  is  stability ;  Godliness  is 
fellowship  with  the  infinite,  and  it  brings  to 
the  soul  the  resources  of  Jehovah's  love  as 
its  present  and  available  possession.  "  All  this 
is  mine,"  said  the  nobleman  to  the  peasant, 
pointing  proudly  to  castle  and  park,  and  mea- 
dows and  well-tilled  acres.  "And  Heaven^ 
too?"  meekly  asked  the  peasant  whose  por- 
tion was  in  the  skies.  Without  God,  Dives 
is  in  want  of  all  things. 

3.  ^The  fact  that  we  shall  soon  meet  God 
face  to  face.  This  same  apostle  brings  Jeho- 
vah before  us  in  the  grandeur  and  the  terror 
of  that  Day,  when  at  his  coming  the  heavens 
shall  pass  away  and  the  elements  shall  melt ; 
and  with  that  picture  in  view,  he  asks,  "what 
manner  of  persons  ought  ye  tq  be  in  all  holy 
conversation    and    Godliness?"       The    early 


SEEING   GOD.  161 

Cliristians*  lived  mucli  in  the  fear  of  God 
because  they  regarded  the  advent  of  Christ 
and  the  day  of  judgment  as  always  impend- 
ing. And  surely  for  every  one  of  us  those 
scenes  which  mark  bijt  moments  on  the  dial 
of  the  heavens,  are  ever  more  impending.  So 
let  us  live,  that  we  shall  not  be  amazed  oi 
ashamed  at  His  Appeaeing. 


U* 


LECTURE    YI. 

BROTHERLY   laiSTDNESS. 

V 

And  to  godliness,  Bkotheelt  Kindness. — 2  Peter  i.  7. 

OME  former  terms  in  this  series  of 
graces  have  called  for  minute  analysis 
and  definition.  This  was  true  especial- 
ly of  Yirtue,  Temperance,  and  Godli- 
ness ;  neither  of  which  in  its  every  day 
use,  conveys  the  meaning  of  the  apostle  as  a 
distinctive  grace  in  the  Christian  character. 
The  term  Brotherly-Love  hardly  calls  for  expla- 
nation ;  but  alas  for  the  manifestation  of  the 
thing !  It  is  the  heart  rather  than  the  head 
that  needs  instruction  in  this  grace.  Yet  this, 
more  than  any  other  single  grace,  is  made  the 
characteristic  mark  of  a  Christian.  "  By  this 
shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples, 
if  ye  have  love  one  to  another."  "  We  know 
that  we  have  passed  from  death  to  life,  because 
we  love   the  brethren."      Our  Lord  himself 


THE   NEW   COMMANDMENT.  163 

made  this  a  test  commandment  in  the  code  o£ 
Christianity.  In  that  tender  hour  of  parting, 
when  after  the  last  supper — thenceforth  exalt- 
ed into  a  sacrament  of  love — Jesus  washed  ^ 
the  disciples'  feet  and  discoursed  to  them  of 
humility  and  affection,  he  said,  "A  new  com- 
mandment I  give  to  you,  that  ye  love  one 
another ;  as  I  have  loved  you,  that  ye  also 
love  one  another."  Three  times  in  that  sacred 
discourse,  when  speaking  of  his  own  love  for 
them  and  tlie  love  of  the  Father  for  himself, 
which  they  should  share,  he  repeats  with  em- 
phasis this  one  command  :  *'  This  is  my  com-  \^ 
mandment,  that  ye  love  one  another,  as  I  have  ^' 
loved  you.  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than 
this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his 
friends.  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  whatso- 
ever I  command  you.  These  things  I  com- 
mand you,  that  ye  love  one  another." 

A  new ^  commandment,  said  Christ;  but 
"Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself," 
was  as  old  as  the  law  at  Sinai.  All  natural, 
domestic,  and  patriotic  affections  were  enjoined 
by  the  Jewish  code ;  and  the  all-embracing 
love  of  the  human  race  was  required  as  second 


164  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

only  to  the  love  of  God.  How  tlien  was  this 
a  new  commandment?  It  was  tlie  old  law  of 
love  proceeding  from  God,  wliicL.  had  almost 
decayed  among  men,  revived,  renewed  by 
Him  who  was  the  embodiment  of  love — that 
law  of  general  good-will  from  man  to  man 
renewed,  and  made  spiritual  in  its  application 
to  a  type  of  character,  and  as  the  bond  of  a 
community,  and  enriched  also  with  the  ele- 
ment of  self-sacrifice  after  the  example  of 
Christ.  Hence  the  apostle  John,  the  beloved 
disciple,  who  drank  most  deeply  of  this  spirit, 
calls  this  same  commandment  both  old  and  new ; 
"  I  write  no  new  commandment  unto  you,  but 
an  old  commandment  which  ye  had  from  the 
beginning;  again  a  new  commandment  I 
write  unto  you,  which  thing  islirue  in  him  and 
in  you," — ^new  in  the  experience  of  their 
renewed  minds ;  new  in  the  specific  applica- 
tion which  Christ  made  of  it  to  a  renewed 
character  and  life,  as  the  basis  of  fellowship ; 
new  in  its  type  of  self-sacrificing  devotion  as 
set  forth  by  Him  who  "having loved  his  own, 
loved  them  to  the  end." 

This  love  is  distinguished  from   all  other 


A   CHEISTLY   CHAEACTEE.  165 

love  iii  that  it  is  based  upon  the  evidence  of  a 
Christly  character,  is  prompted  by  love  to 
Christ  liimself,  and  goes  to  that  extent  of  self- 
sacrificing  devotion  which  -marks  the  love  of 
Christ  for  ns.  "This  is  lAj  commandment, 
that  ye  love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved  you , 
greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a 
man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends."  "  Here- 
by perceive  we  the  love  of  God,"  or  of  God  in 
Christ,  "  because  he  laid  down  his  life  for  ns ; 
and  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the 
brethren." 
The  topics  suggested  by  the  text  are : 

I.  The  chaeacteeistics  of  Beotheely- 
LovE. 

II.  TriEGEOUNDS  OF  THIS  PECULIAE  AFFEC- 
TION. 

III.  The  MEANS  BY  WHICH  IT  MAY  BE  CHEE- 
EISHED. 

1.  This  Love  is  "based  upon  the  evidence  of 
a  Christly  character^  and  is  jpromjpted  hy  love 
to  Christ  himself.  It  is  not  the  doctrine  of  a 
universal  fraternity  which  the  text  inculcates, 
but  Brotherly-Love  between  the  members  of 


166  THE  CHRISTIAN  GRACES. 

the  body  of  Christ  *  The  brotherhood  of  the 
human  race  as  the  spiritual  offspring  of  one 
Father  and  the  lineal  descendants  of  one  pair, 
"  made  of  one  blood,"  is  a  doctrine  of  the 
Bible;  and  the  duty  of  good-will,  practical 
and  cordial  benevolence  toward  every  man  as 
a  neighbor,  is  shown  in  the  parable  of  the 
good  Samaritan  illustrating  and  applying  the 
second  great  commandment.  Eut  this  prac- 
tical and  universal  benevolence,  which  prompts 
to  acts  of  sympathy  and  kindness  toward  the 
needy  and  the  suffering,  and  which  forbids 
all  jealousy  and  animosity  between  man  and 
man,  is  not  founded  in  the  approval  of  the 
character  of  others,  but  simply  in  their  com- 
mon humanity^  and  in  the  wants  and  claims 

*  The  term  Brotherly-Love  so  literally  expresses  the  meaning 
of  <l>lM6£?,(j)ia  (Philadelphia)  that  the  original  here  calls  for 
no  farther  elucidation.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  however,  that 
the  classic  writers  of  antiquity  applied  this  terra  strictly  to 
the  affection  for  brothers  or  sisters  in  blood.  It  was  re- 
served for  Christianity,  to  refine  and  exalt  the  term  by  apply- 
ing it  to  the  mutual  love  of  those  "which  were  born  not  of 
blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man, 
but  of  God."  In  the  New  Testament  the  word  is  applied 
only  to  the  love  of  Christians  for  their  fello^v  Christians. 


PROFESSION    TESTED.  167 

arising  out  of  that ;  for  we  are  to  love  even 
our  enemies  and  to  do  good  to  those  who  hate 
us.  But  this  Brotherly-Love  rests  primarily 
upon  a  character  recognized  and  approved  as 
the  basis  of  fellowship ;  it  is  the  love  of  a 
friend  of  Christ  for  another  in  whom  also  he 
discerns  a  friendship  for,  and  a  likeness  to 
Christ. 

The  profession  of  love  to  Clmst  is  not 
enough  to  command  this  Brotherly -Love. 
Such  a  profession  invites,  indeed  obhges  us  to 
inquire  into  the  evidences  which  attest  its  gen- 
uineness ;  and  it  should  also  dispose  us  to  a 
favorable  judgment.  The  fact  that  one 
openly  professes  to  be  the  friend  of  Christ 
should  predispose  us  to  give  him  our  frater- 
nal confidence ;  but  it  is  not  in  itself  a  sufficient 
warrant  for  this  peculiar  love  of  the  brethren. 
The  apostle  John  who  insists  upon  Brotherly- 
Love  as  vital  to  the  Christian  character,  says 
also,  "Little  children,  let  no  man  deceive 
you;"  "beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit,  but 
try  the  spirits  whether  they  are  of  God, 
because  many  false  prophets  are  gone  out 
into  the  world."    And   the  Saviour  himself 


168  THE   CIIEISTIAN   GEACES. 

while  he  made  Brotherly-Love  the  test  of  true 
membership  in  his  kingdom,  warned  the  dis- 
ciples, saying,  "  Take  heed  that  no  man 
deceive  you ;  for  many  shall  come  in  my  name 
saying  I  am  Christ — who  if  possible  shall 
deceive  the  very  elect."  "We  do  not  then  bes; 
tow  this  brotherly  affection  indiscriminately 
upon  all  who  call  themselves  by  the  name  of 
Christ.  We  must  have  evidence  that  they  are 
His  disciples. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  we  may  not  withhold 
this  love  from  any  who  show  truly  the  spirit 
of  Christ.  Wherever  we  find  evidence  of  a 
vital  union  of  soul  with  Christ  Himself,  evi- 
dence of  a  renewed  heart,  evidence  of  a  godly 
spirit  and  life,  though  this  may  be  accom- 
panied with  minor  errors  of  belief,  with  prac- 
tical errors  of  judgment,  with  infelicities  of 
manner,  with  intellectual  and  social  inferi- 
ority, and  though  the  inward  light  of  grace 
may  be  somewhat  obscured  by  outward  posi- 
tion— as  where  one  is  converted  in  tlie  midst 
of  superstition- and  idolatry,  and  still  retains 
some  of  the  impressions  and  customs  in  which 
he  was  educated — jQi  if  love  to  Christ  appear 


LOVE    TO  CHRIST.  169 

in  this  feeble,  unenliglitened,  struggling  soul, 
we  must  take  that  soul  to  us  in  the  full  em- 
brace of  Brotherly-Love.  "  Him  that  is  weak 
in  the  faith  receive  ye,  but  not  to  doubtful 
disputations;"  not  for  controversy  but  for 
love ;  "  for  we  that  are  strong  ought  to.  bear 
the  infirmities  of  the  weak."  The  love  of 
Christ  will  prompt  to  this.  That  love  is  the 
most  potent  of  moral  affinities.  IS^ot  more 
surely  does  the  magnet  search  out  and  draw 
to  itself  particles  of  steel  in  a  heap  of  sand, 
than  does  the  love  of  Christ  in  the  heart 
draw  to  itself,  by  its  sweet  and  potent  mag- 
netism, whatever  has  a  real  affinity  for  Christ. 
It  is  not  an  external  and  formal  fellowship, 
not  the  spirit  of  sect  or  party,  not  alliance  in  a 
particular  church,  which  generates  and  feeds 
this  love ;  but  an  inward  affection  for  Christ 
himself,  which  causes  us  to  delight  in  what- 
ever is  like  Christ  or  is  pleasing  to  Christ. 
In  one  word,  this  love  for  the  brethren  is  love 
for  them  as  Christians ;  it  is  a  love  springing 
from  the  belief  that  they  are  really  in  Christ, 
and  from  a  delight  in  them  upon  that  account. 
Where  true  love  to  Christ  exists,  the  heart  will 
15 


170  THE   CHEISTIAi^   GEACES. 

warm  toward  any  one  who  recalls  any  feature 
of  Christ,  or  reflects  the  spirit  of  Christ.  It 
does  not  require  that  a  Christian  shall  be  per- 
fect, for  then  this  love  wonld  be  impossible 
until  we  gain  the  purity  of  heaven.  But 
neither  is  it  possible  for  this  love  to  exist 
where  there  is  a  want  of  confidence  in  the 
evidences  of  a  renewed  heart.  We  are  not 
required*  to  love  as  a  brother  one  who  calls 
himself  a  Christian,  but  whose  life  belies  his 
profession  ; — we  must  judge  him  candidly  and 
charitably  as  to  his  faults, — ^but  if  he  does  not 
give  satisfactory  evidence  that  he  loves  Christ, 
we  cannot  love  him  in  Christ.  Our  very 
love  for  Christ  forbids  that  we  should  love  as 
brethren  those  who  do  not,  above  all  errors 
and  faults,  clearly  evince  their  love  for  Him. 
2.  Tliis  Brotherly-Love  ^oes  not  require 
in  Christians  an  entire  agreement  in  opinio7i 
or  coincidence  in  practice.  The  communion 
of  the  saints  is  broader  than  the  affinities 
of  schools  and  the  boundaries  of  sects.  It 
is  the  fellowship  of  those  whose  "  fears,  and 
hopes,  and  aims  are  one ;"  the  fellowship  of 
•minds  made  kindred  not  through  a  common 


DUTY    OF  .REPEOOF.  171 

intellection  or  a  common  organization,  but 
througli  the  same  divine  life  and  love  infused 
into  their  renewed  and  sanctified  nature. 
John  Calvin,  John  Bunyan,  John  Newton, 
John  AYeslej,  John  Eobinson — ^Presbyterian, 
Baptist,  Episcopalian,  Methodist,  Congrega- 
tionalist, — do  we  not  love  them  all  in  Christ  ? 
3.  This  Brotherly-Love  does  not  forbid 
Christians  to  controvert  the  opinions  or  re- 
prove the  faults  one  of  another.  It  requires 
that  they  do  this  without  malice,  or  person- 
ality, or  censoriousness,  but  in  the  love  of  the 
truth  and  of  Christ.  "  If  thy  brother  trespass 
against  thee,  rebuke  him ;  and  if  he  repent, 
forgive  him."  "Them  that  sin  rebuke  before 
all,  that  others  may  fear."  "  Thou  shalt  not 
hate  thy  brother  in  thy  heart ;  thou  shalt  in 
any  wise  rebuke  thy  brother,  and  not  suffer 
sin  upon  him."  Paul  loved  Peter  with  all 
his  heart.  But  when  Peter  tried  to  carry  two 
faces  on  the  question  of  circumcision,  and 
"  practised  dissimulation,  not  walking  uprightly 
according  to  the  truth  of  the  Gospel,"  Paul 
says,  "  I  withstood  him  to  the  face,  because 
he  was  to  be  blamed." 


172  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

4.  True  Brotherly-Love  does  not  require  the 
same  marks  of  outward  consideration  toward 
all  Christianas,  We  may  love  in  Christ  a 
brother  or  a  sister  whom  we  would  not  he 
willing  to  marry.  We  may  love  as  a  brother 
one  whom  we  would  not  choose  as  our  reli- 
gious teacher,  or  to  represent  us  in  Congress. 
This  love  is  neither  a  vague  sentimentalism 
nor  a  levelling  radicalism.  It  is  love  for 
the  best  character — even  the  character  of 
Christ  reproduced  in  his  disciples.  Wherever 
that  is  found  we  love  it  because  we  love  Him. 
This  love  prompts  us  to  relieve  the  wants  of 
our  brethren ;  to  give  them  our  counsel ;  to 
share  their  burdens,  with  kindly  aid  and  sym- 
pathy ;  to  guard  their  reputation ;  to  be  tender 
of  their  feelings;  and  it  should  go  to  the 
extent  of  self-sacrifice  for  them  after  the  exam- 
ple of  Christ.  "  Walk  in  love,  as  Christ  also 
hath  loved  us,  and  hath  given  himself  for  an 
offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God."  Our  godli- 
ness must  not  be  the  secluded  piety  of  the 
convent — a  round  of  fasting  and 'prayer;  it 
uiust  reproduce  toward  man  the  love  which 
it  invokes  from  God.    The  hermit  in  his  cell, 


COMMON   EELATIONS.  173 

the  anchorite  in  the  desert,  cannot  represent 
Christianity  as  a  life-power.  Christ  contem- 
plated a  living  body  of  believers  bound  to- 
gether in  love.  The  exhortation  of  the  text  is 
in  keeping  with  the  whole  spirit  of  the  l^ew 
Testament:  "Add  to  godliness  Brotherly 
Kindness." 

From  this  analysis  of  the  nature  of  Bro 
therly-Love  we  pass  to  consider 


n.  The  geounds  or  reasons  of  this  mu 

TUAL   AFFECTION   OF   THE   FOLLOWERS  OF  ChRIST. 

We  have  seen  that  this  brotherhood  of  be- 
lievei's  is  founded  originally  in  tJieir  common 
relations  to  Christ,  Once  involved  in  a  com- 
mon ruin  and  misery,  partakers  now  of  a 
common  redemption,  having  the  same  su- 
preme object  of  affection,  the  same  ennobling 
aim,  the  same  hope  of  glory,  the  same  inherit- 
ance beyond  the  grave,  and  owing  their  sal- 
vation equally  to  Christ,  they  are  linked 
together  in  those  interests  and  affections  of 
their  being  which  alone  are  vital  and  im- 
perishable. "This  family  resemblance  among 
Christians,  this  homogeneity  of  character, 
15*. 


174:  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

springs  from  a  common  centre  ;  and  there  ex- 
ists as  its  archetype,  an  invisible  Personage 
of  whose  glory  all  have  in  a  measnre  parta- 
ken."* Tlie  brotherhood  of  Christians  is  not 
the  result  of  any  policy,  compact,  convention, 
concession  on  their  part ;  but  exists  by  virtue 
of  their  union  with  Christ,  and  under  his  law. 

Descending  now  from  this  general  survey, 
we  may  note  more  particularly, 

1.  That  Bi'otherly-Love  is  the  only  real 
hond  of  union  in  a  Church  of  Christ.  What 
is  a  Church  ?  A  body  of  professed  believers 
in  Christ,  associated  under  a  covenant  for  mu- 
tual watchfulness  and  help  in  the  Christian 
life,  and  for  maintaining  the  ordinances  of  the 
Gospel.  Its  basis  is  a  covenant.  Tliis  im- 
plies a  common  belief,  a  common  religious 
sentiment,  and  mutual  confidence  and  good 
will.  Without  these  a  covenant  of  Christians 
cannot  exist.  A  covenant  difi'ers  herein  from 
a  constitution.  A  constitution  is  a  system  of 
rules  and  principles  for  the  government  of 
persons  united  under  it.  It  requires  of  the 
members  of  the  body  nothing  more  than  com- 

*  Isaac  Taylor  ;  "  Saturday  Evening."     Med.  xix. 


A   CHURCH   COVENANT.  175 

pliance  with  certain  rules,  and  does  not  neces- 
sarily extend  to  the  spirit  which  they  should 
cherish  one  toward  another.  But  a  covenant, 
as  the  term  is  used  in  church  affairs,  is  "  a 
solemn  agreement  between  the  members  of  a 
church,  that  they  will  walk  together  according 
to  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  in  brotherly 
affection." 

Now  it  is  obvious  that  this  covenant  cannot 
stand  one  moment  without  love.  Love  is  its 
essence;  its  vital  element.  In  the  normal 
structure  of  our  churches,  we  have  nothing  to 
hold  us  together  but  the  simple  bond  of  love. 
Til  ere  are  nominal  Churches  of  Christ  which, 
in  the  countries  where  they  exist,  are  in  alli- 
ance with  the  State  ;  so  that  social  distinction 
and  political  preferment  may  be  closely  con- 
nected with  membership  in  the  Church.  This 
was  once  true  to  some  extent  in  'New  Eng- 
land. Till  within  a  comparatively  recent 
period  in.  England,  the  only  avenue  to  politi- 
cal life  was  through  the  Establishment — mem- 
bership in  that  being  made  a  qualification  for 
office ;  and  at  this  day,  social  distinction  in  that 
country,  depends  much  upon  the  same  church 


176  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

connection.  The  full  privileges  and  honors 
of  the  ancient  universities  can  be  enjoyed 
only  by  members  of  the  Established  Church. 
Hence  there  are  powerful  motives  aside  from 
the  simple  profession  of  faith  in  Christ,  to 
hold  together  the  members  of  that  commu- 
nion. In  other  cases  the  possession  of  a  large 
fund  or  endowment,  or  facilities  for  power 
and  influence,  may  hold  together  a  commu- 
nity of  professed  Christians  without  any 
special  bond  of  afi'ection.  They  stand  by 
their  church,  just  as  one  stands  by  a  bank  or 
other  institution  in  which  he  is  a  stockholder. 
Again,  the  notion  of  a  sanctifying  grace  in 
a  church  organization,  mere  ecclesiasticism, 
may  hold  together  a  body  of  communicants 
who  have  no  special  affection  for  each  other  ; 
and  thus  the  Church  as  an  organization,  with 
its  hierarchy,  its  ritual,  its  history,  its  order, 
its  sacraments,  its  wealth  .  and  power, — the 
Ecclesiastical  Corporation  with  its  vaguely 
defined  spiritual  prerogatives  and  efficacy — 
may  be  regarded  with  reverence  and  affec- 
tion, and  clung  to  with  tenacity  as  the  dis- 
penser of  salvation. 


THE   PERFECT  BOND.  177 

But  the  simple  Cliristianity  of  tlie  E"ew 
Testament  provides  no  such  bond  of  connec- 
tion among  professors  of  the  Christian  faith. 
Its  vital  and  permanent  connections  are  spirit- 
ual. An  Ecclesiastical  Society  may  be  held 
together  by  church  property.  Habit,  tradi- 
tion, history,  worship,  the  ministry,  the  choir, 
the  incidentals  of  the  sanctuary,  social  re- 
unions and  the  like,  may  keep  together  those 
who  have  little  of  Christian  faith  and  love. 
But  in  such  cases,  the  ecclesiastical  society 
or  the  church  association  is  a  bond  of  union 
only  as  a  Masonic  order  or  an  Odd-Fellow's 
Lodge  may  be  such  a  bond.  The  church 
proper,  the  body  spiritual,  the  body  of  Christ, 
is  held  by  no  such  ties.  Not  the  building, 
not  the  forms,  not  the  ministry,  not  the  music, 
not  the  associations,  not  the  society,  but  above 
all  these  and  even  without  all  these.  Love  is 
the  one  bond  of  union  among  the  members 
of  the  household  of  faith.  If  this  is  wanting 
the  covenant  dies,  and  the  church  dies ;  for 
the  life  of  both  is  gone.  Hence  the  apostle 
speaks  of  Charity  as  the  hond  of  perfectness  / 
the  one  complete  bond ;  the  one  basis  of  affi- 


178  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

nity  and  union  among  tlie  followers  of  Christ 
—the  one  thing — ^the  only  tiling  that  holds 
them  together  as  a  church ;  and  hence  be- 
lievers are  exhorted  "  above  all  things^^  above 
prayers  and  forms,  and  ordinances,  and  wor- 
ship, and  even  above  the  outward  duties  of 
Christianity  toward  the  world — above  all 
things  to  "  have  fervent  charity  among  them- 
selves." 

Since  then,  this  mutual  sympathizing,  ap- 
proving Love  is  the  only  possible  basis  of 
Christian  union,  and  the  only  bond  of  that 
pure  and  simple  society  which  we  call  a  church 
of  Christ,  the  cultivation  of  this  Love  is  of 
paramount  importance  to  the  existence  of  a 
church.  Without  this  a  church  organization 
is  an  empty  name.  Though  having  doctrine, 
ritual,  architecture,  music,  pomp,  wealth, 
numbers,  social  culture,  hierarchical  dignity, 
political  influence,  whatever  may  cluster 
about  such  an  organization,  yet  without  Love 
it  is  "  in  want  of  all  things." 

2.  Brotherly-Love  is  the  truest  evidence  of 
a  regenerated  and  sanctified  heart.  The  heart 
of  man  is  by  nature  selfish  and  proud.    It 


THE    BRAHMIN.  179 

caretli  for  its  own  things-  and  not  for  the 
things  of  others;  it  loves  preeminence  and 
the  factitious  distinctions  of  family,  or  wealth, 
or  education.  IN'atural  and  providential  differ- 
ences are  made  the  occasion  of  social  dis- 
tinctions ;  birth,  condition,  color,  talent,  w^hat- 
ever  constitutes  a  real  or  an  imaginary- 
difference  among  men,  is  seized  upon  as  the 
basis  of  pei'manent  distinctions  in  society ; 
and  thus  what  should  develop  only  humane  and 
benevolent  sympathies  and  kindly  affections 
between  man  and  mg-n,  is  made  to  foster  pride 
and  self-conceit,  and  becomes  a  barrier  to  all 
generous  feeling.  There  is  an  aristocracy  in 
human  nature  itself.  It  is  seen  in  the  social 
and  political  constitution  of  tribes  of  men  the 
lowest  in  the  scale  of  intelligence  and  of  civil- 
ization. In  some  nations  it  is  connected  with 
religion.  The  Brahmin  is  of  a  divine  origin — 
a  different  order  of  being  from  other  Hindoos, 
born  upon  the  same  soil,  and  reared  under 
the  same  institutions.  He  springs  directly 
from  the  gods,  and  suffers  no  intercourse 
upon  equal  terms,  with  those  of  an  inferior 
caste.    Tlie  nobility  of  Europe  take  pride  in  a 


180  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

blood  imtainted  with  labor;  and  rest  their 
claim  to  distinction  upon  the  mere  accident 
of  birtli. 

In  this  country,  where  all  such  distinctions 
are  professedly  discarded,  the  spirit  of  aris- 
tocracy develops  itself  with  so  much  the 
greater  intensity  in  the  line  of  wealth ;  which 
however  suddenly  acquired,  however  unat- 
tended with  true  refinement,  intelligence,  and 
worth,  and  however  liable  to  be  dissipated 
by  some  sudden  whirl  of  fortune,  is  made  the 
basis  of  a  distinction  as  wide  as  that  of  birth 
or  of  caste  in  other  lands.  Sometimes,  too, 
we  find  in  our  new  society  some  feeble  imita- 
tion of  the  aristocracy  of  family  or  of  talent 
in  older  countries,  where  men  wear  hereditary 
titles,  succeed  to  hereditary  honors,  and  are 
governed  by  hereditary  brains.  But  the 
spirit  of  pride,  the  feeling  of  caste,  is  natural 
to  the  heart,  even  where  there  is  little  in  the 
outward  to  encourage  it.  If  one  cannot  feel 
proud  because  his  ancestors  died  without  the 
assistance  of  the  hangman,  or  went  unwhipt 
of  justice  notwithstanding  their  rapacity  and 
their  oppressions  of  the  pooi- ;  if  he  cannot 


BOITRCES    OF    PRIDE.  181 

feel  proud  because  in  himself  or  in  his  ances- 
tors he  may  boast  gifts  of  nature,  physical  or 
intellectual,  which  others  have  not;  if  he 
cannot  feel  proud  because  the  turn  of  fortune 
enables  him  to  "  make  a  fair  show  in  the 
flesh ;"  if  one  has  none  of  these  grand  occa- 
sions of  pride,  then  he  is  proud  because  he  is 
white  and  not  black,  or  because  he  is  de- 
scended from  Saxon  brigands  and  idolaters 
instead  of  Celtic  buccaneers. 

Or  if  pride  is  not  thus  dominant  in  the  na- 
tural heart,  some  other  form  of  selfishness  is 
dominant  there ;  and  each  man  makes  his  own 
interest  and  advancement,  and  the  interest  and 
advancement  of  his  own  family  and  friends, — 
whatever  interest  clusters  about  himself  or 
has  relations  more  or  less  personal, — every 
man  naturally  makes  this  superior  to  the  in- 
terests of  others,  and  even  superior  to  the 
public  good.  And  thus  it  -is  that  covetous- 
ness,  or  ambition,  or  vanity,  or  family,  or  pure 
self-will,  so  often  get  the  better  of  the  humane 
and  honorable  impulses  of  the  soul. 

l!^ow  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  is  directly 
the  reverse  of  all  this.  The  Gospel  does  not 
16 


182  THE   CHKISTIAN    GRACES. 

violently  subvert  the  constitution  of  society;  it 
does  not  equalize  property  and  talent ;  it  does 
not  change  the  appointments  of  Providence 
with  respect  to  color  or  condition ;  but  it  lays 
the  axe  at  the  root  of  pride  and  of  selfishness 
in  the  heart ;  so  that  if  from  prudential  rea- 
sons or  by  the  law  of  social  affinity,  distinctions 
of  some  sort  shall  yet  remain  in  society,  moral 
considerations  and  the  spirit  of  love  shall  so 
lar  overbalance  these,  that  they  shall  not  be 
cherished  in  an  exclusive  pride  of  selfishness. 
And  this  is  just  the  point  in  human  nature 
most  difficult  to  be  reached.  Such  a  feeling- 
is  the  fruit  only  of  a  renewed  and  a  sanctified 
heart.  Kothing  but  that  radical  change  in 
human  nature  effected  through  the  Gospel, 
can  bring  the  Jew  to  renounce  his  prejudices 
against  the  Gentile,  can  bring  the  Greek  to 
overcome  his  contempt  for  the  Jew  and  to 
embrace  him  as  a  brother ;  can  bring  men  of 
different  social  rank,  of  difierent  color  and 
condition,  to  live  upon  equal  terms  with  bro- 
therly affection.  The  Gospel  makes  the  soul 
and  its  interests  paramount  to  all  temporal  dis- 
tinctions,; it  puts  the  spiritual  infinitely  above 


MASTER   AND   SERVANT.  183 

the  physical ;  it  honors  character  above  all 
rank,  and  station,  and  wealth,  and  power ;  it 
honors  all  men  as  the  offspring  of  God^;  and 
it  looks  upon  the  renewed  man  in  Christ  as 
the  image  of  Christ,  to  be  received  and  loved 
for  his  sake.  "One  is  your  Master  even 
Christ,  and  all  ye  are  brethren." 

3.  This  law  of  Christian  brotherhoK>d  de- 
clared by  our  Lord,  not  only  secures  to  each 
and  every  disciple  the  same  rights  and  privi- 
leges in  his  kingdom ;  it  forbids  any  relation 
hetween  Christians  which  is  inconsisteyit  with 
their  absolute  equality  before  Ilim^  and  their 
fraternal  love  for  each  other.  Perhaps  the 
most  striking  illustration  of  this,  is  seen  in  the 
effect  of  this  doctrine  upon  the  relation  of 
master  and  servant,  in  the  Apostolic  age.  The 
Koman,  unlike  the  Hebrew  law,  gave  the 
master  absolute  control  over  the  body  of  liis 
servant,  to  sell,  to  maim,  to  put  to  death. 
Now,  a  master  and  his  slave  are  botli  con- 
verted to  Christianity  and  received  into  the 
same  church.  We  know  from  authentic 
sources  that  converted  pagans  often  accom- 
panied  their   profession    of  faith  in  Christ, 


184  THE   CHEISTIAN    GRACES. 

with  the  public  and  solemn  mannmission  of 
their  slaves.  But  sometimes  legal  difficnlties 
made  this  impracticable ;  yet  in  that  case, 
the  law  of  Christian  brotherhood  insured  the 
virtual  manumission  of  the  slave.  To  masters 
the  apostle  says,  "  Give  to  your  servants  that 
which  is  just  and  equal;  knowing  that  ye 
also  have  a  master  in  heaven  ;  and  there  is  no 
respect  of  persons  with  Him."  And  to  Christ- 
ian servants  the  same  apostle  says,  "they 
that  have  believing  masters,  let  them  not  des- 
pise them  because  they  are  'brethreii^^ — and 
therefore  only  their  equals  in  the  Church — 
"  but  rather  do  them  service  hecause  they 
are  believers  and  beloved,  partakers  of  the 
benefit."  The  relation  of  master  and  servant 
is  thus  transferred  from  the  pale  of  the  civil 
law  into  the  higher  plane  of  Christian  Jove. 

In  the  churches  of  Ephesus  and  Galatia, 
were  both  masters  and  servants,  as  is  evident 
from  the  letters  of  Paul.  But  the  epistles  to 
those  churches  are  addressed  equally  to  every 
member-:  and  the  apostle  says  to  each' and  to 
all  alike,  "  Submit  yourselves  one  to  another 
in  the  fear  of   God;"    and   "Bear    ye   one 


A   TKUE   FKATERNITY.  185 

cmotherh  burdens ;"  with  mucli  of  the  sam'e  im- 
port. If  we  read  through  any  of  the  epistles 
^vith  this  thought  in  mind — that  in  the  church 
to  which  it  was  addressed  there  were  rich  a^d 
poor,  master  and  servant,  nobleman  and  ple- 
beian, and  consider  that  the  smne  instructions 
and  exhortations  are  given  to  all  alike,  w^e  can- 
not resist  the  conviction  that  Koman  chattelism 
found  no  place  in  those  early  churches,  and 
that  no  relation  which  was  inconsistent  with 
fraternal  love  was  tolerated,  simply  because 
it  had  the  sanction  of  custom  and  the  civil 
law. 

And  this  law  of  Christian  Brotherhood  also 
requires  that  in  all  lawful  relations,  and  all 
social  intercourse,  Christians  shall  manifest 
toward  each  other  their  peculiar  love.  While 
the  spirit  of  Christian  fraternity  must  do 
away  with  every  relation  between  Christians 
which  is  inconsistent  with  a  genuine,  honest, 
hearty,  mutual  affection  and  esteem ;  on  the 
other  hand  it  retains  and  fosters  those  mutual 
relations  which  are  founded  in  nature  or  pro- 
priety, even  where  these  involve  a  degree 
of  superiority  on  the  one  hand  and  of  depen- 
IC* 


I 


186  THE   CIIKISTIA^   GEACE8. 

dence  on  the  other ; — as  the  relations  of  parent 
an(j^  child ;  master  and  servant,  apprentice 
or  ward ;  employer  and  the  employed ; 
rulers  and  the  ruled  ; — ^but  into  all  these  rela- 
tions the  spirit  of  Brotherly-Love  infuses  a 
new  dignity  and  life — ^making  the  outward 
condition  a  thing  of  accident,  a  transitory 
matter,  to  be  regulated  ever  by  this  higher 
Love. 

"Christianity  invests  every  human  being 
'with  immeasm'able  importance,  and  so  incalcu- 
lably enhances  whatever  affects  his  welfare  or 
his  moral  condition.  The  affections  of  earth, 
how  vehement  soever,  are  transitory,  as  itself; 
but  the  love  which  has  become  combined 
with  the  idea  of  immortality,  is  firm,  profound 
and  indestructible.  Atheism,  in  all  its  forms, 
desiccates  the  affections.  .  .  .  It  h  only  in  reli- 
gion that  we  can  find  the  true  philosoj)hy  of 
love,  for  love  apart  from  the  belief  of  an 
after  state  has  neither  substance  nor  purity."* 

Where  the  Gospel  possesses  the  heart,  it 
puts  an  end  to  selfishness  and  pride,  and  infuses 

*  Saturday  Evening,  xix. 


LOVE   A   PEOOF   OF   FAITH.  187 

the  spirit  of  liumanity,  and  courtesy,  of 
kindness,  of  union,  of  peace.  Hence  that 
Brotherly-Love  which  goes  forth  equally 
toward  all  thai  are  in  Christ,  without  respect 
to  physical  or  social  differences,  is  the  highest 
evidence  of  a  renewed  heart.  '•  "We  Icnow  that 
we  have  passed  from  death  to  life,  because  we 
love  the  brethren."  Nay,  where  this  is  want- 
ing, there  is  no  valid  evidence  of  regenera- 
tion. "  If  a  man  say  I  love  God,  and  loveth 
not  his  brother,  he  is  a  liar.  For  he  that 
loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen, 
how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not 
seen  ?  He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  abideth 
in  death."  Yain  is  profession,  vain  is  doctrine, 
vain  is  prayer,  vain  is  alms-giving,  vain  is  zeal, 
without  this  Love. 

3.  Tlie  fraternal  love  of  Christians  gives  to 
the  world  the  highest  and  most  convincing 
'proof  of  the  reality  and  the  jpower  of  Christ- 
ian faith^  and  is  the  necessary  condition  for 
the  advancement  of  Christianity  in  the  world. 

The  relation  of  Brotherly-Love  to  the  evi- 
dences of  Christianity,  and  to  its  proj^agation 
in  the  world,  is  twice  announced  by  our  Sa- 


• 


I 


188  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

viour  in  his  prayer  for  his  disciples  at  tlie  last 
supper.  "  That  they  all  may  be  one  ;  as  thou 
Father  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they 
also  may  be  one  in  us ;  that  the  world  may 
believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me.  .  .  .  That 
they  may  be  one,  even  as  we  are  one :  I  in 
them,  and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made 
perfect  in  one ;  and  that  the  world  may  know 
that  thou  hast  sent  me,  and  hast  loved  them 
as  thou  hast  loved  me." 

The  evidence  of  Christ's  mission,  of  Christ's 
divinity,  of  Christ's  union  with  his  church,  of 
Christ's  power  and  grace,  the  final  convincing 
evidence  of  this  would  be  given  in  the  union 
of  his  disciples,  made  up  from  all  nations,  all 
classes,  all  temperaments,  all  interests,  yet  one 
in  each  other,  and  one  in  Christ  their  head. 
This  was  the  demonstration  of  his  Gospel 
before  the  world,  upon  which,  humanly  speak- 
ing, He  chiefly  relied  for  its  progress  and 
success. 

In  that  age  stood  Judaism,  wdth  its  intense 
nationality  ;  its  religious  pride  ;  its  Pharisaic 
spirit;  Greek  philosophy  with  its  mysteries 
for  the  initiated  and  its  contempt  for  the  com- 


THE  FIEST    CHRISTIANS.  189 

monalty  and  the  outside  world  of  barbarians ; 
Roman  supremacy,  with  its  claim  of  descent 

►  from  the  gods,  and  its  disdain  of  all  whom 
it  had  conquered;  everywhere  there  existed 
the  most  marked  religious  and  social  distinc- 
tions ;  despotism  in  government,  and  slavery 
in  private  life ;  and  there  was  no  system  of 
religion,  of  philosophy,    or  of  government, 

•  capable  of  bringing  men  ^f  different  nation- 
alities and  of  different  social  rank  upon  a  com- 
mon platform  of  fraternity;  there  was  none 
that  had  even  shaped  to  itself  such  an  ideal.* 
But  Christianity  began  with  this ;  the  Jew 
and  the  Gentile  must  come  together ;  the  Greek 
and  the  barbarian  must  come  together;  the 
Roman  citizen  and  the  Scythian  outcast  must 
come  together ;  the  master  and  the  slave  must 
come  together ;  the  Pharisee  and  the  publican 
must  come  together ;  the  philosopher  and  the 
rustic,  the  centurion  and  the  common  soldier, 

*  The  small  communities  of  Essenes,  fraternities  of  Jew- 
ish ascetics  and  communists  hardly  constitute  an  exception 
to  this  remark.  De  Quincey,  by  the  way,  has  revived  the 
notion  that  the  Essenes  themselves  were  "  the  prodicct  of 
Christianity  under  its  earliest  storms." 


190  THE   CHKISTIAN   GEACES. 

the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  officers  of  Caesar's 
palace  and  the  tent-makers  from  Alexandria, 
the  royal  eunuch  riding  in  his  chariot,  and  the 
humble  evangelist  travelling  on  foot,  all  must 
come  together  in  one  body  and  be  known  as 
'brethren.  This  was  the  very  first  step  in  the 
progress  of  the  Gospel;  and  lo  the  men  of 
that  prgud,  Pharisaic,  philosoiDhic,  despotic 
age,  it  was  the  highest  evidence  that  here  was 
a  new  element  in  society,  a  religion  not  of 
man  but  of  God  ;  whicti  offering  no  emolu- 
ment, claimed  only  and  everywhere  lo'oe. 
The  idea  of  Fraternity,  not  in  the  low  sense  of 
a  political  or  financial  or  literary  club,  a  Bro- 
therhood of  mutual  confidence,  sympathy, 
affection  and  esteem,  was  then  first  broached, 
and  first  realized  before  the  world. 

And  this  Love  of  the  brethren  was  an  argu- 
ment ^of  great  force  for  Christianity.  ^'  See," 
said  the  heathen,  everywhere,  "  see  how  these 
Christians  love  one  another."  Origen,  Ter- 
tullian,  and  other  apologists,  make  much  of 
this  Brotherly-Love  in  their  arguments  with 
heathen  opponents  of  the  Gospel.  This 
mutual  love  led  the  Christians  at  Jerusalem, 


THE   HINDOO   CONVERT.  191 

in  an  emergency,  to  devote  tlieir  entire  property 
for  the  common  benefit ;  and  when  that  spe- 
cial occasion  had  passed  by,  it  still  prompted 
to  a  liberal  hospitality  and  charity.  Indeed 
"  so  ready,  entire  and  constant  was  the  affec- 
tion of  the  early  Christians,  that  the  heathen 
accused  them  of  having  private  marks  upon 
their  bodies,  whereby  they  fell  in  love  with 
each  other  at  first  sight."*  Would  that  the 
same  harmony  which  the  freshness  of  the 
life  in  Christ  then  induced,  and  which  cir- 
cumstances of  common  peril  necessitated, 
might  now  pervade  the  whole  body  of  be- 
lievers, to  the  admiration  and  conviction  of 
the  world ! 

Sometimes  upon  heathen  ground  this  early 
simplicity  is  renewed.  Beautiful  is  the  inci- 
dent narrated  of  an  accomplished  Hindoo,  a 
young  man  of  high  caste,  delicate,  refined, 
educated  in  the  belief  of  his  native  and  heredi- 
tary superiority,  who  on  becoming  a  convert 
to  Christianity,  made  a  profession  of  faith  side 
by  side  with  a  poor  woman  of  the  lowest 

*  Neander  and  Cave. 


I 


192  THE   CHRISTIAN  GEACES. 

caste,  whose  very  sliadow  he  would  have 
avoided  in  the  days  of  his  iinregenerate  pride ; 
and  not  content  with  being  baptized  from  the 
same  water,  and  assenting  to  the  same  cove- 
nant, turned  to  her  of  his  own  accord,  and  in 
sight  of  the  congregation  took  her  by  the 
hand  and  said,  "  My  sister^  Tliere  was  the 
triumph  of  Christian  love  over  the  pride  of 
the  natural  heart,  and  the  pride  of  social  cus- 
tom and  of  false  religion  ;  and  there  too  was 
the  demonstration  to  the  world  that  this  Reli- 
gion is  not  of  man. 

The  conviction  of  the  divine  character  and 
mission  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  will  be  in  pro- 
portion to  the  love  and  the  unity  of  His  fol- 
lowers. And  by  this  Love,  also,  will  Christ- 
ianity become  a  reforming  power  for  the 
complete  conquest  of  evil  in  the  world.  Let 
Brotherly-Love  prevail  between  master  and 
slave,  let  Philemon  receive  his  Onesimus  not 
as  a  servant  but  as  a  brother  beloved,  and 
how  soon  will  the  chains  fall,  and  all  that  is 
selfish  and  oppressive  in  the  relation  of  mas- 
ter and  servant  come  to  an  end.  Let  Bro- 
therly-Love prevail  between  ruler   and  sub- 


CHEISTIAN   SOCIABILITY.  193 

ject,  and  oppression  will  cease  on  tlie  one 
hand,  and  rebellion  on  tlie  other.  Let  Bro- 
therlj-Love  prevail  between  the  employer 
and  the  employed,  the  capitalist  and  the 
Laborer,  and  the  jars  and  conflicts  of  society 
will  end  in  a  state  of  perfect  equity  and  satis- 
faction. 

For  the  spread  of  Christianity,  therefore,  it 
is  not  enough  that  we  found  schools  and  col- 
leges, build  churches,  establish  missions,  mul- 
tiply tracts  and  Bibles ;  all  this  apparatus  is 
needed  for  the  work;  but  they  wdio  would 
reform  and  save  the  world,  must  above  all 
things  ham  fervent  charity  among  themselves. 

ni.  How  SHALL  THIS  LoVE  BE  DEVELOPED 
AND  CHERISHED  ? 

1.  Wherever  this  is  possible.  Christians 
must  cultivate  a  familiar  acquaintance  with 
eaxih  other.  Tliis  holds  especially  of  those 
who  are  associated  in  the  same  church  fellow- 
ship. There  can  be  only  the  most  vague,  im- 
personal regard  for  one  another,  upon  general 
grounds,  among  Christians  who  hardly  know 
each  other's  personal  identity ;  to  whom  the 
It 


194:  THE   CHRISTIAN    GRACES. 

names  of  members  wlio  have  signed  the  same 
covenant  and  are  registered  in  the  same  cata- 
logue recall  no  familiar  face,  and  suggest  no 
traits  of  personal  character.  This  Love  in- 
cludes a  personal  esteem,  complacency  in  char- 
acter, and  a  cordial  sympathy ;  but  these 
cannot  exist  toward  an  individual  whose 
name  is  knowp.  only  as  an  algebraic  sign. 
The  great  want  of  our  church  fellowship, 
especially  in  cities,  is  social  contact ;  some  pro- 
vision whereby  Christians  can  see  each  other 
face  to  face,  other  than  the  pews  of  the 
church,  and  the  half  vacant  benches  of,  the 
lecture  room ;  some  provision  for  chiirch- 
society,  which,  without  dispensing  with  other 
forms  of  social  intercourse  proper  and  useful 
in  themselves,  shall  yet  make  the  society  of 
fellow-Christians  a  positive  and  peculiar  at- 
traction, and  shall  knit  the  whole  circle  in 
sacred  love.  "Without  this  a  church  can 
hardly  be  expected  to  prosper.  It  can  have 
no  warmth  of  Christian  love,  and  no  energy 
of  Christian  union.  How  to  gain  this  is  a 
problem.  The  first  Christians  accomplished 
it  in  Rome,  in  Antioch,  in  Alexandria,  cities 


CHRISTIAN   SOCIABILITY.  195 

as  populous  as  this.  But  then  Christianity 
was  fresh;  all  its  impulses  and  experiences 
were  new;  Christians  were  few  in  number; 
liemmed  in  by  idolatry  ;  driven  to  each  other 
for  countenance  and  sympathy,  welded  to- 
getlier  by  the  fires  of  persecution.  Yes,  and 
then  too  the  love  of  Christ  was  fresh,  and 
sweet,  and  powerful,  and  attractive,  and  all- 
absorbing.  The  Gospel  was  felt  to  be  a 
reality,  and  the  Christian  profession  was  a 
reality.  Can  any  change  of  outward  circum- 
stances excuse  us  for  the  neglect  of  tliis  vital 
part  of  Christian  culture  ?  Can  we  afford  to 
dispense  with  that  which  was  the  life  of  the 
early  churches  ?  ISTot  unless  we  would  have 
Christianity  degenerate  into  a  lifeless  form; 
not  if  we  would  have  anything  of  fellowship 
except  the  name.  For  often  a  church  is 
rather  an  aggregation  of  independent  units 
than  the  coalescing  of  congenial  fervent 
liearts.  » 

2.  We  must  clierish  Brotherly-Love  hy 
dwelling  in  our  thoughts  and  speech  upon  the 
excellencies  of  hrethren  rather  than  upon  their 
infirmities  and  defects^    It  is  a  pleasant  dis- 


196  THE   CIIEISTIAN    GEACES. 

coveiy  that  one  wakes  up  to  now  and  then, 
that  there  is  more  goodness  in  the  world,  and 
more  goodness  in  individuals,  than  he  had  sus- 
pected to  exist.  And  it  is  surprising  how 
this  discovery  grows  when  the  mind  of  the 
observer  is  in  a  gentle  and  loving  mood.  Pre- 
judice invents  faults ;  through  green  glasses 
the  j)urest  white  is  turned  to  green.  But 
charity  covers  a  multitude  of  sins  ; — not  con- 
niving at  sin,  not  countenancing  crime,  but 
overlooking  faults  in  the  esteem  of  virtues. 
It  dwells  upon  the  great  outlines  of  charac- 
ter, and  seeing  the  likeness  of  Christ  truly 
stamped  upon  the  soul,  it  overlooks  the  minor 
defects  of  the  image  in  the  joy  that  the  like- 
ness is  really  there. 

Our  independent  American  habit  of  thought 
and  of  speech,  together  with  the  comparative 
isolation  of  city  life,  betrays  Christians  into  a 
harsh  and  censorious  judgment  of  one  another, 
or  into  a  spirit  of  controversy  when  some 
defect  of  character  is  brought  to  light  in  one 
whose  general  character  is  little  known ;  and 
forthwith  one  who  has  many  sterling  excel- 
lencies, and  gives  clear  evidence  of  Christian 


SELF-IMFROVEMENT.  197 

character,  is  condemned  as  reprobate,  void  of 
principle,  the  chief  of  sinners,  because  some 
infirmity  for  the  time  is  conspicuous,  and  his 
excellencies  are  hid.  But  should  we  dwell 
habitually  upon  the  excellencies  of  Christian 
brethren,  and  overlook  their  faults,  or  humbly 
and  kindly  seek  to  correct  them,  how  would 
our  hearts  burn  towards  them  with  holy  love. 
At  this  point  emphatically  we  must  give  all 
diligence  to  cultivate  this  grace.  It  is  not  our 
brethren  whom  we  should  seek  to  cultivate 
and  improve,  so  mufth  as  our  own  hearts. 
Have  you  faith  in  Christ  ?  But  Christ  him- 
self has  made  the  crowning  fruit  and 
evidence  of  that  faith  to  be  this  very  Love  of 
the  brethren.  "Tliis  is  his  commandment, 
that  we  should  believe  on  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  love  one  another."  Have  you 
Godliness  of  heart  ?  But  remember  that  "  If 
a  man  say  I  love  God,  and  hateth  his  brother, 
he  is  a  liar."  "  If  we  love  one  another,  God 
dwelleth  in  us."  "Put  on,  therefore  as  the 
elect  of  God,  holy  and  beloved,  bowels  of 
onercies,  kindness,  humbleness  of  mind,  meek- 
ness, long-suffering,  forbearing  one  another 
11* 


198  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

and  forgiving  one  another,  if  any  man  have  a 
complaint  against  any,  even  as  Christ  forgave 
you,  so  also  do  ye  ;  and  above  all  these  things 
put  on  charity,  which  is  the  hond  of  jperfecb- 
ness^  and  let  the  peace  of  God  rule  in  your 
hearts ;  to  which  also  ye  are  called  in  one 
body." 


LECTURE    YII. 
CHARITY. 

And  to  Brotherly-Kindness  Charity. — 2  Peter,  i.  7. 

ND  what  is  Charity  ?  IN'ot  alms-giving 
merely,  nor  benefactions  to  objects  of 
public  utility,  however  frequent  and 
liberal,  for  "  though  I  bestow  all  my 
goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  have  not 
Charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing."  Shall  we 
then  take  Charity  in  the  broader  sense  of 
love?  This  is  warranted  by  old  English 
usage,  and  in  substituting  the  word  Charity  in 
this  verse  for  the  w^ord  love  found  in  the 
older  versions,  no  doubt  our  translators  meant 
to  convey  by  it  the  same  idea.  Charity 
means  primarily  clearness^  as  denoting  the 
high  price  or  value  of  an  object  ;*  and  hence 
the  word  denotes  metaphorically  a  high  regard 

*  Caritas  annonce,  dearness  of  provisions,  is  a  frequent 
expression  in  Latin  authors.  The  high  price  of  fruit,  grain, 
wine,  oil,  etc.,  is  expressed  by  caritas. 


200  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

or  esteem  for  any  one — a  love  produced  by  a 
sense  of  value  or  a  principle  of  esteem.  Mil- 
ton speaks  of  tlie  natural  affections  between 
members  of  the  same  family  as  charities. 
The  idea  of  kindness  to  the  poor,  which  com- 
mon usage  has  attached  to  the  word,  is  but  a 
secondary  meaning.  It  stands  in  the  text  as 
the  representative  of  a  wider  thought ;  add  to 
Godliness  Brotherly-kindness  and  to  Brotherly- 
kindness,  Love. 

But  Love  has  so  many  forms  and  applica- 
tions that  this  also  needs  to  be  defined  in  order 
that  we  may  get  at  its  precise  signification  as 
a  Christian  grace.  The  Love  here  enjoined 
differs  from  that  brotherly-love  already  ex- 
pounded, since  this  must  be  added  to  that ; 
and  for  the  same  reason  it  must  differ  from 
that  love  toward  God  which  Godliness  implies, 
and  that  love  to  Christ  w^hich  Faith  implies. 
It  is  an  affection  definite  in  its  nature  and  spe- 
cific in  its  object,  to  be  added  to  all  the  rest. 
Rightly  to  comprehend  it,  we  must  study  the 
Christian  interpretation  of  those  duties  between 
man  and  man  which  are  conprised  in  the  second 
table  of  the  law. 


THE   DEBT   OF   LOVE.  201 

Christ  summed  up  the  law  in  two  command- 
ments ;  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thj  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
with  all  thy  mind — this  is  the  first  and  great 
commandment.  And  the  second  is  like  unto 
it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself ; 
on  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law 
and  the  prophets."  This  summary  of  the  law 
is  set  forth  by  the  apostle  Paul  in  the  form  of 
a  demonstration.  "  Eender  to  all  their  dues ; 
tribute  to  whom  tribute  is  due;  custom  to 
whom  custom ;  fear  to  whom  fear ;"  all  this 
refers  to  those  in  official  station,  to  whom,  as 
good  subjects  or  citizens,  Christians  should 
pay  that  tribute  and  respect  which  the  law 
demands.  Then  from  those  in  authority  the 
apostle  passes  to  survey  all  men,  and  says  "  owe 
no  man  anything,  but  to  love  one  another  ;"  all 
all  other  debts,  whether  of 'money  or  of  res- 
pect, should  be  scrupulously  paid — they  grow 
burdensome  if  not  paid — ^but  Love  is  of  per- 
petual obligation ;  so  that  to  carry  out  the 
figure  of  the  apostle,  it  may  be  said  of  it, 
"  this  debt  increases  the  more,  the  more  it  is 
paid,  because  the  practice  of  Love  makes  the 


202  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

principle  of  love  deeper  and  more  active." 
All  other  dues  can  be  cancelled,  wiped  out  by 
payment ;  but  tliis  debt  is  renewed  as  often  as 
it  is  paid,  and  every  day  demands  a  new  install- 
ment. But  though.  Love  can  never  cease  to  be 
binding  as  duty,  yet  where  it  is  both  perfect 
and  constant,  it  meets  all  the  requirements  of 
the  law,  60  that  "  he  that  loveth  another  hath 
fulfilled  the  law  ;  for  this,  Tliou  shalt  not  com- 
mit adultery,  thou  shalt  not  kill,  thou  shalt 
not  steal,  thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness, 
thou  shalt  not  covet;  and  if  there  be  any 
other  commandment,  it  is  briefly  comprehend- 
ed in  this  saying,  namely.  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself.  Love  worketh  no  ill  to 
his  neighbor ;  therefore  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of 
the  law."  Tliis  gives  us  the  key  to  the  meaning 
of  the  word.  Love  worketh  no  ill  to  another  ; 
it  is  the  spirit  of  universal  good-will  to  man. 

So  new  a  thing  was  this  spirit  in  the  world, 
that  the  writers  of  the  ISTew  Testament  were 
obliged  to  coin  a  new  word  to  express  it.  Li 
that  copious,  classic,  and  courtly  Greek  from 
which  the  evangelists  and  apostles,"  though 
Hebrews,  drew  the  main  stock  of  their  words, 


A   NEW   WOED.  203 

there  was  no  term  to  convey  this  idea  of  a 
universal  and  equal  love  toward  man  as  man, 
because  that  idea  had  never  entered  the  mind 
of  even  the  most  liberal  and  cultivated  pagan. 
Tlie  feelings  of  race,  of  nationality,  of  nativity, 
of  religion,  all  found  expression ;  but  in  a 
period  when  each  nation  regarded  itself  as  of 
distinct  and  divine  origin,  and  looked  upon 
foreigners  with  suspicion  or  jealousy,  there 
was  no  sentiment  of  universal  brotherhood  in 
man,  and  therefore  no  word  to  express  that 
sentiment.  This  need  not  much  surprise  us. 
When  the  great  Hungarian  orator  sought  to 
apply  the  principles  of  Christianity  to  inter- 
national law,  he  found  that  even  the  English- 
speaking  nations  were  not  far  enough  ad- 
vanced in  the  practice  of  Christianity  to  have 
formed  a  word  for  that  idea.  He  wished  to 
express  the  mutual  obligation  of  nations  for 
each  other's  welfare :  and  he  had  to  coin  for 
this  a  word  whicli  for  a  long  time  sounded 
strangely  in  our  ears.  He  took  a  technical 
legal  term  which  denotes  the  strongest  form 
of  contract — ^in  which  all  the  contracting  par- 
ties are  bound  together,  and  each  is  bound  for 


204:  THE    CIIRISTIAX    GEACES. 

all — and  then  to  tlie  sliame  of  our  defective 
Christianity  and  our  selfish  nationalism,  he 
enlightened  us  in  that  solidarity  of  nations 
which  is  so  much  higher  and  nobler  th^n  the 
spirit  of  national  exclusiveness. 

Even  so  when  the  first  ex]3ounders  of  Christ- 
ianity would  express  the  great  idea  of  good- 
will toward  mankind  universally,  they  could 
find  no.  word  which  would  adequately  convey 
that  idea.  And  in  their  adoj)ted  Greek — 
then  the  universal  language — there  was  no 
word  to  express  Love,  which  had  not  been  so 
perverted  to  unworthy  uses  as  to  unfit  it  for 
the  chaste  and  pure  spirit  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  As  a  fine  scholar  and  critic  expresses 
it,  "  those  words  by  the  corrupt  use  of  the 
world  had  become  so  steeped  in  earthly  sen- 
sual passion,  carried  such  an  atmosphere  of 
this  about  them,  that  the  truth  of  God  ab- 
stained from  the  defiling  contact  witli  them ; 
yea,  found  out  a  new  word  for  itself  rather 
than  betake  itself  to  one  of  these : — for  the 
substantive  aya-n-Ty — ^here  translated  charity  or 
Love — ^is  purely  a  Christian  word,  no  example 
of  its  use  occurring  in  any  heathen  writer 


THE  CHRISTIAN  AGAPE.  205 

whatever."*  The  origin  of  this  word  is  in  a 
purely  Christian  idea.  It  is  Love,  not  as  a 
passion  but  as  an  affection  /  and  this  refined 
from  all  taint  of  self-interest,  and  bestowed 
intelligently,  impartially,  and  from  a  deep 
abiding  religious  principle,  upon  all  men  as 
the  children  of  one  Father,  partakers   of  a 

*  Dean  Trench,  "  Synonyms  of  the  New  Testament," 
p.  70.  Lexicographers  confirm  what  Trench  here  says.  A 
few  examples  will  suffice.  AyaTrrj  {agape).  "  This  word 
occurs  only  in  the  Bible  and  in  Christian  writers."  (Rost  und 
Palm.)  The  verb  dyairuu,  frequent  in  classic  writers,  differs 
from  ^lIeiv  "  as  implying  regard  or  affection  rather  than 
passion^  and  is  rarely  used  of  sexual  love."  (Liddell  and 
Scott.)  Xenophou  in  his  "Memorabilia"  makes  Socrates 
advise  Aristarchus  upon  the  treatment  of  poor  relatives : 
"  If  you  take  them  under  your  direction,  so  that  they  may 
be  employed,  you  will  love  them,  when  you  see  that  they 
are  serviceable  to  you,  and  they  will  grow  attached  to  you, 
when  they  find  that  you  feel  satisfaction  in  their  society." 
(Mem.  2,  7,  9.)  When  Aristarchus  had  given  to  his  female 
relations  honorable  and  becoming  employments  in  his 
household,  Xenophon  adds,  "they  loved  Aristarchus  as 
their  protector,  and  he  loved  them  as  being  of  use  to  him." 
(  Mem.  2,  12.)  This  chaste  affection  or  mutual  regard  as 
distinguished  from  a  merely  amorous  or  dishonorable  at- 
tachment, was  expressed  by  the  verb  ayaKau ;  but  there 
was  no  corresponding  substantive  in  classic  Greek. 

18 


206  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

common  nature,  and  subjects  of  one  redemp- 
tion through  Jesus  Christ.  Brotherly-Love  is 
the  love  of  complacency  toward  those  who 
bear  the  image  of  Christ — ^binding  us  to  them 
to  the  utmost  extent  of  self-sacrifice.  Charity 
is  the  love  of  good-will  toward  all  mankind  ; 
— the  consequence  of  love  to  God  and  a  loA^e 
from  God  shed  abroad  in  the  hearts  of  his 
people. 

A  full  analysis  of  this  affection  requires 
that  we  consider, 

I.  Its  essential  elements  and  conditions. 

II.  Its  pk actio al  sphere  and  effects. 
m.  The  hindrances  to  its  expression. 
lY.  The  methods  for  its  development. 

1.  As  an  essential  element  of  this  Love 
there  must  be  the  full  recognition  of  a 
common  humanity  in  all  men^  whatever  their 
country,  their  color,  their  language,  their 
lirth,  or  their  condition.  Whatever  the  pre- 
sent types  of  mankind,  however  degenerated 
in  physical  appearance,  rude  in  dialect,  de- 
graded in  manners,  however  ignorant,  brutal, 
vile,  we  must  be  able  to  look  upon  each  and 


THE   BROTHERHOOD  OF   MAN.  207 

all,  and  recognize  above  these  accidental  dif- 
ferences the  common  and  permanent  type  of 
our  humanity.  We  must  be  able  to  sit  down 
with  Kane  among  the  Esquimaux,  and  say, 
these,  stunted  creatures,  matted  over  with 
filth,  gorging  themselves  with  oil,  dividing 
life  between  sleeping  and  the  hunt — these  are 
men  like  to  ourselves ;  and  then  we  must  go 
with  Livingstone  among  the  kraals  of  the 
Hottentots,  and  overcoming  our  disgust  for 
their  persons  and  their  habits,  must  say, 
these,  too,  are  men  like  ourselves ;  and  then 
we  must  go  among  the  islands  of  the  South 
Pacific,  whose  native  population  shock  every 
taste  and  habit  of  civilized  life,  and  say,  even 
these  are  inen  of  like  passions  with  our- 
selves;— such  barbarians  were  those  among 
whom  Paul  was  shipwrecked  at  Malta,  and  to 
whom  he  preached  the  Gospel;  such  barba- 
rians were  our  ancestors  in  Britain— painted 
savages  of  the  wood, — when  the  Romans  con- 
quered them  and  despised  them  even  for 
slaves ; — such  were  that  Saxon  Race  from 
whose  loins  we  more  directly  spring,  when 
nearly  six  hundred  years  after  Cliristianity 


THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES, 

appeared,  the  great  and  good  Gregory  com- 
passionating  the  barbarism  of  those  pirate 
islanders,  sent  his  chosen  missionaries  to  seek 
their  conversion.  It  was  a  more  brave  and 
desperate  thing,  twelve  hundred  years  ago, 
for  the  monk  Augustine  to  go  and  plant  him- 
self upon  the  island  of  Britain,  than  it  is  for 
our  brethren  Gulick  and  Bingham,  to  take  the 
risk  of  living  alone  among  tke  warlike  pagans 
of  Micronesia.  And  when  we  look  upon  "the 
dark  places  of  the  earth  filled  with  the  habi- 
tations of  cruelty,"  we  should  remember  "  the 
rock  whence  we  are  hewn,  and  the  hole  of 
the  pit  whence  we  are  digged,"  and  consider 
that  these  are  our  brethren,  like  to  our  very 
fathers,  and  that  in  a  huhdred  years  they 
of  the  Pacific  islands  may  become  what 
a  thousand  years  have  made  of  the  British 
isles. 

When  Paul  stood  up  in  the  midst  of  Mars 
Hill,  and  declared  that  "  God  had  made  of 
one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all 
the  face  of  the  earth,"  he  conquered  his  own 
prejudices  as  a  Jew,  and  faced  the  deepest  pre- 
judices of  the  Greek.     He,  a  Hebrew  of  the 


209 


Hebrews,  a  Pharisee  of  the  Pharisees,  trained 
in  that  peculiar  pride  which  the  Jew  kept  up 
through  all  the  changes  of  political  fortune  to 
his  race — whether  amid  the  glories  of  Solo- 
mon, or  in  exile  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon, 
whether  in  the  brief  independence  won  by 
the  patriotism  and  heroism  of  the  Maccabees, 
or  under  the  galling  yoke  of  the  Poman  con- 
querer — that  pride  of  birth  and  nation  as  the 
elect  of  God  which  was  the  inextinguishable 
possession  of  the  Jew ;  Paul,  nursed  in  this  upon 
his  mother's  knee,  confirmed  in  this  in  the  school 
of  Gamaliel,  now  casts  it  all  away  and  sees  in 
every  man  a  brother,  saying,  "  I  am  debtor 
both  to  the  Greeks  and  to  the  barbarians,  both 
to  the  w^se  and  the  unwise."  And  to  the  artis- 
tic and  cultivated  Greek,  proud  of  his  soil,  his 
ancestry,  his  arts,  his  civilization,  and  looking 
upon  other  men  as  barbarians,  this  Jew 
declares  that  God  "  hath  made  of  one  blood 
all  nations  of  men."  There  is  the  starting- 
point  in  this  Christian  doctrine  of  Love. 

2.  But  the  doctrine  goes  farthej* ;  and  recog- 
nizes in  all  mankind  not  only  the  brotherhood 
of  a  common  physical  descent  and  of  like  phy- 
18* 


210  THE   CHRISTIAN    GRACES. 

sical  characteristics,  but  a  higher  relationship 
as  the  common  offspring  of  God.  Almost 
every  pagan  nation  of  antiquity  believed  itself 
to  be  descended  from  the  gods.  In  all  early  his- 
tory you  find  a  mythical  period,  during  which 
gods  and  demigods  appearing  upon  the  favor- 
ed soil,  of  Egypt,  of  Greece,  of  Assyria,  of 
Rome,  prepared  the  germ  of  a  great  nation, 
to  be  fostered  and  protected  by  these  divini- 
ties. But  this  doctrine  of  man's  descent  from 
the  gods  fostered  the  feeling  of  national  pride 
and  exclusiveness.  The  pagan  religions  had 
gods  many,  and  of  different  ranks  and  powers, 
and  hence  each  nation  conceived  of  its  own 
gods  as  the  highest,  and  made  its  heaven- 
sprung  ancestry  a  special  boast  as  against 
other  nations.  But  Paul's  doctrine,  the  doc- 
trine of  the  New  Testament  is,  that  the  one 
true  and  living  God  has  made  all  men ;  and 
that  in  their  spiritual  constitution  as  living 
souls,  they  are  all  alike  the  offsj)ring  of  God, 
and  in  this  respect  are  as  truly  made  in  his 
image  as  was  Adam  «in  the  beginning.  Thus 
the  earthly  tie  of  brotherhood,  the  tie  of 
blood  and  of  descent,  is  made  sublime  and 


ALL   OF   ONE   BLOOD.  211 

spiritual  through  our  equal  relations  to  one 
Father.*  • 

3.  And  hence  again,  this  Love  for  man 
which  the  Gospel  enjoins,  must  flow  primar- 
ily from  love  to  God.    N^ot  the  mere  feeling 

*  The  expression  "made  of  one  blood"  used  by  Paul  in 
his  discourse  at  Athens  (Acts  xvii.  26),  has  given  rise  to 
much  critical  discussion.  Some  manuscripts  and  some  of  the 
fathers  read  for  "  one  blood,"  of  "  one  nation,"  others  *'  of 
one  man,"  etc.  Tischendorf,  in  his  seventh  critical  edition 
of  the  Greek  Testament  (Leipsic,  1859)  retains  aiiiaroq^ 
"  blood,"'  in  the  text.  Alford  regards  the  verb  "  made  "  as 
directly  governing  the  infinitive  "  to  dwell,"  and  thus  derives 
from  the  passage  a  still  stronger  affirmation.  The  unity  of 
the  race  being  already  taught  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
Paul  assumes  or  postulates  this,  and  then  affirms  that  the 
geographical  distribution  of  mankind,  originally  of  one  stock, 
was  also  of  divine  appointment.  "He  hath  caused  every 
nation  of  men  (sprung)  of  one  blood  to  dwell  on  all  the  face 
of  the  earth."  In  opposition  to  the  polytheistic  doctrine  of 
the  distinct  origin  of  different  nationalities,  under  the  tute- 
lage of  diflferent  divinities,  Paul  affirms  that  all  nations 
being  of  one  origin,  the  offspring  of  one  God,  He  ordered 
their  several  habitations — their  migrations  and  their  abodes, 
according  to  his  own  plan.  Prof.  Agassiz  himself,  while  aim- 
ing at  a  new  scientific  classification  of  species,  would  not  be 
understo"od  to  deny  the  brotherhood  of  the  whole  human 
family. 


212  THE   CHEISTIAN   GEACE8. 

of  commTinity  of  origin,  not  a  general  family 
resemblance  in  features  and  in  cliaracter,  not 
the  experience  of  common  wants,  and  perils, 
and  griefs,  not  the  burdens,  the  fears  and  the 
hopes  of  a  common  destiny,  none  of  all  these 
will  suffice  to  produce  and  maintain  this  uni- 
versal love  of  man ;  but  the  love  of  God  as 
our  Father  will  produce  this  love  as  its  fruit. 
"  Every  one  that  loveth  him  that  begat,  loveth 
him  also  that  is  begotten  of  him."  Tlie  two 
great  commandments  require  but  one  and  the 
same  thing,  viz.  Love ;  love  to  God  is  the  root 
of  true  holiness,  love  to  man  its  outward  man- 
ifestation. Loving  God  as  the  Father  of  all, 
we  must  feel  something  of  his  love  toward 
all.  Loving  Christ,  God  in  human  flesh,  we 
must  love  also  the  whole  race  whose  nature 
he  took,  whose  sins  he  bore.  Wherefore  this 
Love  is  added  to  Faith  and  Godliness. 

4.  The  Scriptures  always  trace  this  Love  to 
a  renovated  heart.  There  are  charitable  asso- 
ciations whose  members  pledge  themselves 
together  for  mutual  offices  of  kindness ;  they 
agree  to  assist  one  another  in  business,^  and  so 
far  as  possible,   in  political  relations;   they 


AN    UNSELFISH   LOVE.  213 

watch  with  one  another  in  sickness,  or  provide 
nurses  at  the  expense  of  the  order ;  they  make 
a  weekly  allowance  to  the  sick  and  the  iineni- 
ployed,  and  in  the  event  of  death  they  defi-ay 
the  funeral  expenses,  and  assist  the  bereaved 
family.  Such  associations  may  engender  good 
will  and  promote  kindly  offices  in  society; 
but  after  all  they  are  but  a  kind  of  insurance 
company  upon  the  mutual  basis,  and  may  rest 
at  bottom  upon  self-interest  in  each  individual 
member,  and  not  upon  a  spontaneous  and 
cherished  good- will  in  each  for  all.  Though 
bearing  the  name  of  charitable,  and  often 
dispensing  funds  in  charity,  they  are  not 
guided  by  the  spirit  of  impartial  love,  but 
are  managed  as  financial  institutions,  for  the 
exclusive  benefit  of  their  own  subscribers. 
But  this  Love  inculcated  by  the  Gospel  does 
not  originate  in  ^ny  compact  between  indivi- 
duals or  classes ;  it  is  not  a  thing  prescribed 
by  a  constitution,  which  men  set  out  to  learn 
and  to  practise ;  it  flows  from  the  heart,  out- 
ward. "  The  end  of  the  commandment,"  the 
grand  result  at  which  the  law  of  God  aims, 
"  is  Charity  out  of  a  jpure  heart,"  i.  e.  a  heart 


214  THE   CHRISTIAN    GEACE8. 

pure  from  all  selfish  views  and  leanings,  "  and 
a  good  conscience,"  a  conscience  honest 
toward  God  and  man,  "  and  faitli  unfeigned," 
sincere  belief  in  Christ  and  his  Gospel.  Tliis 
state  of  the  heart  and  conscience  toward  God 
and  Christ  w^ill  issue  in  true  love  to  man. 
As  the  apostle  writes  to  Timothy,  "Follow 
righteousness,  faith.  Charity,  peace,  with 
them  that  call  on  the  Lord  out  of  a  pure 
heart."  Those  whose  hearts  are  sincerely 
turned  to  God — who  know  what  it  is  to  give 
themselves  to  Him  in  prayer  and  love,  will 
follow  Charity  in  their  intercourse  with  men. 
From  this  analysis  of  Charity  we  pass  to 
consider, 

n.  Its  peactical  sphere  akd  effects. 

1.  We  may  trace  the  practical  working  of 
this  spirit,  in  Charity  for  the  (ypinioiis  of 
others  in  matters  of  religion.  The  religious 
opinions  of  men  are  often  the  result  of  early 
education,  of  the  circumstances  which  sur- 
round them,  or  of  some  bias  or  prejudice 
taken  up  without  due  reflection.  Sometimes 
they  are  the  result  of  severe  thought  and  pro- 


CARE   FOK   THE   TEUTH.  216 

longed  mental  struggles  without  proper  helps 
to  truth.  In  the  whole  sphere  of  mind  there 
is  hardly  a  spectacle  so  thrilling  as  that  of  a 
great  intellect  honestly  intent  upon  the  dis- 
covery of  truth,  groping  blindly  among  the 
pillars  of  her  temple,  and  at  last  like  Samson, 
mocked  and  baffled,  pulling  them  down  upon 
itself.  Could  we  give  sight  to  those  eyes, 
could  we  guide  those  faltering  steps  and  plant 
them  upon  the  rock  of  truth,  what  joy  should 
we  bring  to  that  soul,  and  what  honor  to  the 
truth  !  Did  we  know  more  of  the  early  edu- 
cation of  others,  of  their  mental  habits,  of 
their  inward  struggles,  we  should  be  more 
charitable  toward  them  in  their  errors;  re- 
membering the  counsel  of  Paul  to  Timothy : 
"Be  gentle  ta  all  men,  apt. to  teach,  patient; 
in  meekness  instructing  those  that  oppose 
themselves,  if  God  peradventure  will  give 
them  repentance  to  the  acknowledging  of  the 
truth." 

But  w^hile  I  thus  plead  for  Charity  to- 
ward those  in  error,  I  do  not  plead  for  that 
false  liberality  which  is  indifferent  to  truth. 
The  distinction    between  the  two  is  finely 


216  THE   CHKISTIAN    GRACES. 

drawn  by  a  recent  writer.*  "  Charity  liolds 
fast  tlie  minutest  atoms  of  truth,  as  being 
precious  and  divine,  offended  by  even  so 
much  as  a  thought  of  laxity.  Liberality 
loosens  the  terms  of  truth  ;  permitting  easily 
and  with  careless  magnanimity  variations 
from  it;  consenting,  as  it  were,  in  its  own 
sovereignty,  to  overlook  or  allow  them ;  and 
subsiding:  thus  ere  lon^  into  a  licentious  in- 
difference  to  all  truth,  and  a  general  defect  of 
responsibility  in  regard  to  it.  Charity  ex- 
tends allowance  to  men  ;  liberality  to  falsities 
themselves.  Charity  takes  the  truth  to  be 
sacred  and  immovable  ;  liberality  allows  it  to 
be  niarred  and  maimed  at  pleasure."  While 
therefore  our  Charity  should  lead  us  to  be 
kind  and  gentle  toward  those  in  error,  we 
should  remember  with  Paul,  that  as  the 
friends  of  Christ,  "  we  can  do  nothing  against 
the  truth,  but  for  the  truth." 

2.  Another  application  of  this  law  of  Love 
is  to  the  faults  of  others.  "  Charity  shall 
cover  the  multitude  of  sins,"  not  however,  in 
the  Papal  sense,  that   alms-giving  pays  for 

*  Dr.  H.  Bushnell. 


CHARITY   TOWARD   FAULTS.  217 

indulgences — that  one  can  buy  license  to  sin 
against  God  by  doing  some  petty  favor  to  man. 
Tlie  Charity  here  spoken  of  is  not  alms  to 
men,  but  the  spirit  of  Love  in  the  heart ;  and 
the  sins  which  it  covers  are  not  those  of  him 
who  loves,  but  those  of  the  object  of  that  love. 
Charity  does  not  ignore  sins,  nor  connive  at 
them,  nor  make  light  of  them  as  against  God, 
but  it  passes  by  offences  against  itself,  and  does 
not  suffer  these  to  deter  it  from  doing  ano- 
ther good.  Though  the  raving  inebriate  should 
mock  and  curse  you,  yet  should  you  cover  his 
nakedness,  and  minister  to  his  wants.  The 
rule  of  Christian  forbearance  and  good-will 
has  a  wider  sphere  than  the  Church  of  Christ. 
"  If  a  man  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,  ye  which 
are  spiritual  restore  such  a  one  in  the  spirit 
of  meekness,  considering  thyself,  lest  thou 
also  be  tempted."  "  Charity  sutfereth  long 
and  is  kind ;"  Love  is  not  hindered  in  its  work 
by  opposition,  injury,  ingratitude ;  "  Charity 
envieth  not,"  but  rejoices  in  the  prosperity  of 
others,  though  less  favored  itself ;  "  Love 
seeketh  not  her  own  " — what  an  absolute  nega- 
tion of  selfishness ! — "  is  not  easily  provoked ;" 
19 


218  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

but  instead  of  hastily  cliarging  a  fault,  or  har- 
boring a  suspicion,  puts  the  most  favorable 
construction  upon  the  conduct  of  others ;  and 
"  thinketh  no  evil ;"  "  Charity  rejoiceth  not 
in  iniquity,"  is  never  pleased  that  even  an 
enemy  has  fallen  into  sin ;  never  delights  to 
publish  a  fault ;  "  beareth  all  things,  believeth 
all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all 
things." 

3.  Tliis  spirit  of  Love  should  be  viewed  in 
its  application  to  the  necessities  of  our  fellow- 
men.  Tliis  is  the  more  common  use  of  the 
term  Charity ;  and  surely  this  form  of  the 
grace  is  most  abundantly  emphasized  in  the 
Gospel.  To  the  Pharisees,  who  sought  to 
purify  themselves  by  ceremonies,  Jesus  said, 
"  Rather  give  alms  of  such  things  as  ye  have; 
and  behold,  all  things  are  clean  unto  you." 
And  to  his  own, disciples  in  their  poverty  he 
said,  "  Sell  that  ye  have,  and  give  alms  ;  pro- 
vide yourselves  bags  which  wax  not  old,  a 
treasure  in  the  heavens  that  faileth  not." 

The  apostle  John  makes  this  form  of  Char- 
ity a  test  of  love  to  God.  Whoso  hath  this 
world's  good,  and  seeth  his  brother  have  need, 


SYMPATHY   IN   LOVSi  219 

and  shiittetli  up  Lis  bowels  of  compassion  from 
him,  liow  dwelletli  the  love  of  God  in  liim." 
The  actual  necessity  of  another  brought  to  our 
notice,  and  our  present  ability  to  relieve  that 
necessity,  these  two  facts  concurring,  create  an 
obligation  to  Charity  which  is  a  test  of  our  love, 
to  God.     Love  to  God  abiding  in  us  would 
cause  us  to  imitate  the  perfection  of  his  love, 
which  is  that  "  He  doeth  good  even  to  the 
evil  and  the  unthankful."     But  there  is  a 
charity  in  sympathy  as  well  as  in  alms-giving. 
"When  James  with  his  strong  practical  mode 
of  speech  would   present  the  whole  Gospel 
before  us  in  a  living  activity,  he  says,  "  Pure 
religion  and  undefiled  before  God    and  the 
Father  is  this :      To  visit  the  fatherless   and 
widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep  himself 
unspotted  from  the  world."     Many  a  one  who 
has  little  to  bestow  in  the  way  of  alms,  has  a 
wealth    of   affection  sufficient  to  enrich  the 
world.     Many  a  tract  visitor  with  little  earthly 
comxfort  to  bestow,  carries  to  the  hearts  of  the 
poor  the  rare  joy  of  sympathy ♦     Jesus  had  no 
money  to    give; — ^but   how   he  blessed  men 
with  his  words.     x\nd  when  he  wrought  mira- 


220  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

cles  of  healing,  he  enriched  them  with  the  sym- 
pathies of  his  heart.  He  had  compassion  on 
the  suifering.  He  wept  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus, 
and  the  Jews  said,  "Behold  how  he  loved 
him."  ' 

Sir  Philip  Sidney^  the  Christian  gentleman, 
secretary  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  a  knight 
champion  of  the  Protestant  cause,  was  a 
model  of  every  form  of  this  heavenly  Charity. 
But  its  crowning  beauty  was  evinced  in  his 
death.  Wounded  in  battle,  "  as  he  was  borne 
from  the  field  of  action,  faint,  pallid,  and 
parched  with  the  thirst  that  attends  excessive 
loss  of  blood,  Sidney  asked  for  water.  It  was 
obtained  with  difficulty  and  in  scant  supply. 
With  trembling  hand  he  raised  the  cup  to  his 
lips,  when  his  eye  was  arrested  by  the  gaze  of 
a  dying  soldier,  longingly  fixed  upon  the  pre- 
cious draught.  Without  tasting,  he  instantly 
handed  it  to  the  sufferer,  saying.  Thy  necessity 
is  greater  than  mine.^^  We  do  not  wonder 
that  when,  soon  after,  he  found  himself  dying, 
this  man  of  faith  an^l  prayer  and  charity,  lifted 
up  his  eyes  to  heaven  and  said  "  All  things 
in  my  life  have  been  vain,  vain,  vain,   but 


THE   WISDOM   OF   LOVE.  221 

I  would  not  give  the  joy  I  have  in  Christ  for 
the  empire  of  the  world." 

4.  This  spirit  of  Love  will  promjpt  also  to 
all  wise  and  heneficent  measures  of  jpjiilan- 
throjpy  and  reform.    It  is  of  purpose  tliat  I 
use  these  qualifying  words  ;  for  even  when  a 
reform  itself  is  needed,  and  promises  most 
beneficent  results  to  man,  not  all  the  measures 
used  for  that  reform  are  wise  and  beneficent. 
But  the  spirit  of  Love  does  not  oppose  itself 
to  the  reform,  because  certain  measures  of 
reform  are  evil.     If  a  Fourierite,  or  a  disciple 
of  Robert  Owen,  insists  that  the  poor  ought 
to  have  better  homes,  an  enlightened  Charity 
may  not  approve  of  their  plan  of  Association, 
but  it  will  not  content    itself  with   crying 
"  infidelity,"   "  Fourierism,"  and  leaving  the 
poor  to  die  in  crowded  garrets  and  noisome 
cellars.     If  the   infidel   and  the   disunionist 
declare  that  men   ought  not  to  be  held  as 
chattels    in   a   Christian  land.  Charity  does 
not  lift  up   her  hands  in   holy  horror   and 
cry  "  infidelity,"    "  treason,"   and  leave  the 
evil  untouched ;  but  while  disapproving  and 
disavowing  a  fiery  and  denunciatory  fanati- 
19* 


222  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

cism,  Love  remembers  tliem  that  are  in 
bonds,  "as  bound  with  them."  "Charity 
vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not 
behave  itself  unseemly ^  The  spirit  of  Charity 
in  society  is  an  infusion  of  the  leaven  of 
Christianity.  What  led  f loward  to  visit  pri- 
sons and  hospitals,  braving  their  filth  and 
infection  ?  What  led  Brainard  to  exhale  his 
rare  intellect  and  piety  among  the  Indians  ? 
This  heavenly  Charity  will  live  in  every 
clime,  where  it  can  do  good  to  man.  The  ice 
of  the  Arctic  cannot  freeze  it,  the  heat  of 
the  desert  cannot  wither  it.  But  this  spirit 
of  Love,  which  would  fain  reform  and  bless 
the  world,  finds 

ni.  Hindrances  to  its  expression. 

1.  Tliese  hindrances  lie  in  the  want  of  con- 
sideration. We  judge  harshly  of  the  motives 
•of  others  because  we  do  not  well  consider 
all  the  reasons  of  their  action ;  we  speak  un- 
kindly, because  we  do  not  consider  what  is 
due  to  the  sensibilities  of  others ;  we  are  cen- 
sorious in  our  judgment  of  faults,  because  we 
do  not  consider  well  the  circumstances  of  our 


KEYS   TO   HEARTS.  ^223 

neighbors ;  we  are  severe  upon  opinions,  be- 
cause we  do  not  inquire  into  tbeir  origin  and 
grounds.  A  candid  allowance  for  the  circum- 
stances of  others  would  almost  always  mitigate 
that  severity  of  judgment  which  fastens  upon 
the  outward  act,  or  makes  one  an  offender 
for  a  word. 

2.  In  the  want  of  intercourse.  If  travel 
enlarges  the  mind,  it  expands  the  heart  also 
to  a  kindlier  judgment  of  men,  and  sympathy 
toward  them.  The  monk  in  his  convent 
seems  to  you  but  a  lazy  hireling  of  the 
church ;  the  Arab  in  his  tent  seems  but  a 
roving  plunderer,  an  Ishmaelite  with  his  hand 
against  every  man ;  but  when  you  partake  of 
their  humble  lot  you  find  them  men  of  a  com- 
mon nature.  There  is  a  key  to  every  man's 
heart — though  some  have  combination  locks, 
and  it  requires  both  skill  and  patience  to 
open  them.  Yet  in  every  man's  heart — as  in 
that  tiny  mechanism  of  Swiss  invention — 
there  sleeps  a  little  bird  of  song,  which,  can 
you  but  learn  how  to  wind  it  aright,  will  start 
up  at  your  call  and  imitate  the  notes  of  love 
that  you  have  been  taught  of  God.   It  is  worth 


224:  THE    CnillSTIAN    GRACES. 

years  of  toil  to  teacli  tliat  l)ird  tlie  song  of 
heavenly  love. 

8.  In  some  lurking  selfishness^  which  in- 
vents excuses  for  not  loving  others.  "  All  the 
little  mean  work  of  our  nature,"  says  a  lady 
novelist,*  applying  to  the  heart  a  figure  from 
housekeeping,  "  all  the  little  mean  work  of  our 
nature  is  generally  done  in  a  small,  dark  closet 
just  a  little  back  "  of  the' subject  in  which  we 
profess  to  .be  interested.  We  do  not  sufler  om* 
meanness  to  come  to  the  light  even  of  our 
own  consciousness — ^if  we  can  help  that.  But 
when  we  find  ourselves  parrying  off  some 
appeal  for  kindness,  giving  way  to  borne  pre- 
judice against  others,  inventing  excuses  for 
disregarding  them — ^however  plausible  all  this 
may  seem  to  us — it  is  a  most  unhappy 'frame 
of  mind  ;  this  is  not  love  at  work, — but  some 
lurking  selfishness,  in  the  dark  closet,  is  pull- 
ing the  wires,  confounding  moral  distinctions 
and  perverting  all  good  and  generous  affec- 
tions. 

To  guard  against  and  overcome  these  hin- 

•  Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe,  "  The  Minister's  Wooing." 


THE   POWER   OF   LOVE.  225 

drances  to  the  expression  of  Love,  we  should 
study 

lY.  The  methods  of  developing  this  affec- 
tion. 

1.  By  rightly  estimating  itsjpower.  Pcmoer 
does  not  lie  in  noisy  demonstration  or  in 
visible  force.  The  puffing  of  the  steam- 
engine,  the  screech  of  the  locomotive,  are  not 
the  motive  power ;  the  steam  that  moves  the 
engine  steals  quietly  into  the  cylinder 
through  a  yielding  valve,  and  works  by  pres- 
sure, not  by  noise.  The  power  that  locks  up 
the  streams  and  converts  the  rolling  waves 
into  a  pavement  of  solid  crystal — ^you  cannot 
hear  it  any  more  than  you  can  hear  the 
motion  of  the  planets.  Tlie  power  that  again 
melts  down  these  barriers  and  unlocks  the 
frozen  earth,  can  you  hear  that,  though  it 
makes  the  trees  clap  their  hands  and  wakes 
all  the  birds  to  song?  And  can  you  hear 
Love y  or  weigh  it,  or  measure  it?  But  in 
that  little  word  lies  a  power  greater  than 
philosophy,  diplomacy,  or  arms,  to  rule  and 
mold    the    world.       When    ]S"apoleon     on 


226  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

St.  Helena  contemplated  the  wreck  of  his 
own  empire,  he  was  filled  with  awe  of  this 
mysterious  power  of  Christ.  "  With  all  my 
power,"  said  he,  "  I  have  only  made  men  fear 
me ;  but  this  carpenter,  without  an  army,  has 
made  men  love  him  for  eighteen  hundred  years. 
"I  have  so  inspired  multitudes  that  they 
would  die  for  me.  God  forbid  that  I  should 
form  any  comparison  between  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  soldier  and  Christian  charity, 
which  are  as  unlike  as  their  cause.  But 
after  all,  my  presence  was  necessary ;  the 
lightning  of  my  eye,  my  voice,  a  word  from 
me,  then  the  sacred  fire  was  kindled  in  their 
heartsu  I  do,  indeed,  possess  the  secret  of 
this  magical  power,  which  lifts  the  soul,  but  I 
could  never  imj)art  it  to  any  one.  None  of 
my  generals  ever  learned  it  from  me;  nor 
have  I  the  means  of  perpetuating  my  name, 
and  love  for  me,  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  to 
effect  these  things  without  physical  means, 
l^ow  that  I  am  at  St.  Helena,  now  that  I  am 
alone,  chained  upon  this  rock,  w^ho  fights  and 
wins  empires  for  me?  who  are  the  courtiers 
of  my  misfortune?  who  thinks  of  me?  who 


THE   POWER   OF  LOVE.  227 

makes  efforts  for  me  in  Europe  ?  Where  are 
my  friends  ? 

"  Christ  speaks,  and  at  once  generations  be- 
come his  by  stricter,  closer  ties  than  those  of 
blood — ^by  the  most  sacred,  the  most  indissolu- 
ble of  all  unions.  He  lights  up  the  flame  of 
a  love  which  consumes  self-love,  which  pre- 
vails over  every  other  love.  The  founders  of 
other  religions  never  conceived  of  this  mys- 
tical love,  which  is  the  essence  of  Christianity, 
and  is  beautifully  called  Charity.  In  every 
attempt  to  effect  this  thing,  namely,  to  make 
himself  leloved^  man  deeply  feels  his  Qwn 
impotence.  So  that  Christ's  greatest  miracle 
undoubtedly  is  the  reign  of  Charity." 

Only  a  few  shepherds  heard  the  heavenly 
voices  breaking  on  the  still  night — ^but  that 
sweet  refrain,  "  Peace  on  earth,  good  will  to 
men,"  chimes  on  through  the  ages  and  rolls 
round  with  the  world.  Wherever  that  spirit 
enters,  darkness  and  guilt  and  sighing  flee 
away,  the  night  becomes  radiant  with  angelic 
presence, 

"  And  Heaven  as  at  some  festival, 

Doth  open  wide  the  gates  of  her  high  pnlace-hall." 


228  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

2.  By  the  constant  and  studious  'practice 
of  Love,  We  must  give  diligence  to  cultivate 
this  grace ; — ^improve  every  opportunity  for 
tlie  exercise  of  love  and  even  for  the  ex- 
pression of  it.  If  this  does  no  good  to  others, 
it  will  bless  our  own  hearts. 

This  applies  especially  to  giving  of  our  sub- 
stance. l)r.  Shepard,  in  his  sermon  before 
the  American  Board,  at  Detroit,  has  set  this 
out  with  great  truth  and  power.  He  describes 
the  giving  of  many  men  as  compared  with 
their  means,  as  "  but  shelling  off  some  of  the 
loose  outer  scales  of  a  leviathan  of  wealth^ 
In. contrast  with  this,  he  presents  the  man 
who  really  believes  that  it  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive.  "He  welcomes  every 
authentic  application ;  even  searches  for  the 
opportunity,  and  blesses  the  man  who  furnishes 
him  with  one."  Then  to  all  who  have  the 
habit  of  giving  leanly  and  grudgingly,  he 
says,  "  Arise  and  give — give  bountifully — 
give  heartily — give  willfully — -just  because 
something  within  resists  and  says  '  1  won't ' — 
give  the  more  and  still  more,  from  the  very 
teeth  and  grip  of  the  old  retaining  passion — 


LOVE  FLOWS  FEOM  GOD.  229 

give  with  tlie  measure  and  intent  to  crucify 
avarice — that  hundred  the  nail,  that  thousand 
the  spike,  that  ten  thousand  the  spear,  and  so 
proceed  and  persist  till  the  base  and  slimy 
thing  is  wholly  dead."  "No  mere  tithing 
borrowed  from  the  state  religion  of  the  Jews 
can  meet  the  requiremenis  of  Christian  Love. 
"The  Lord  loveth  a  cheerful  giver." — But 
more  than  all,  this  spirit  is  to  be  cherished, 

3,  By  elevated  communion  loith  God.  "God 
is  Love  ;  and  he  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwell- 
eth  in  God,  and  God  in  him."  If  our  souls 
are  filled  with  the  love  of  God,  that  love  will 
outflow  toward  all  mankind.  The  higher  we 
rise  in  fellowship  with  him  who  is  the  foun- 
tain of  all  Lore,  the  more  rich  and  full  and 
free  will  be  the  streams  of  Love  issuing  from 
our  hearts  to  cheer  and  bless  the  world. 
Love  to  God  implies  the  negation  of  all 
selfishness ;  and  the  perfection  of  divine  Love 
which  we  are  called  to  imitate,  is  that  it  doth 
good  to  all,  even  to  the  evil  and  the  un- 
thankful. 

And  so  we  are  urged  to  cultivate  this  Love, 

4,  By  its    own  dignity    and   Hessedness, 

20 


230  THE   CHKISTIAN    GRACES. 

The  Scriptures  place  Love  before  all  things, 
in  the  enumeration  of  Christian  graces.  "  Cha- 
rity never  faileth.  Whether  there  be  pro- 
phecies, they  shall  fail;  whether  there  be 
tongues,  they  shall  cease  ;  whether  there  be 
knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away.  But  now 
abide th  faith,  hope,. charity — these  three — ^but 
the  greatest  of  these  is  charity."  Love  never 
wearies  by  its  own  exercise,  never  exhausts 
its  own  power.  He  who  shall  possess  this 
diyine  charity  shall  rise  to  the  dignity  of 
angels,  and  shall  carry  in  his  own  soul  the 
peace  and  blessedness  of  heaven.  Tlien  let 
me  dwell  in  Love,. that  I  may  dwell  in  God. 

"  And  when  within  that  lovely  Paradise 
At  last  I  safely  dwell, 
From  out  my  blissful  soul  what  songs  shall  rise, 
What  joy  my  lips  shall  tell. 

"  While  holy  saints  are  singing 

Hosannas  o'er  and  o'er, 
'    Pure  Hallelujahs  ringing  • 

Around  me  evermore. 

"  Innumerous  choirs  before  the  shining  throne 
Their  joyful  anthems  raise, 
Till  Heaven's  glad  walls  are  echoing  with  the  tone 
Of  that  great  hymn  of  praise.   ' 


THE   HEAVENLY   SONG. 

"And  all  its  host  rejoices, 
And  all  its  blessed  throng 
Unite  their  myriad  voices 
In  one  eternal  song." 


231 


LECTURE     YIII. 
THE  CHOIR   OF   GRACES. 

For  if  these  things  be  in  you,  and  abound,  they  will  make 
you  that  ye  shall  neither  bq  barren  nor  unfruitful  in  the 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  he  that  lacketh 
these  things  is  blind,  and  cannot  see  afar  off,  and  hath  for- 
gotten that  he  was  purged  from  his  old  sins. — 2  Peter,  i. 
8,  9. 

)HE  graces  enumerated  in  the  preceding 
verses,  and  wliich  we  have  now  con- 
sidered in  their  individuality,  should  be 
viewed  also  in  their  harmonious  con- 
nection— a  connection  indispensable  to 
completeness  of  Christian  character.  ]^ot  to 
be  over  nice  in  the  criticism  of  words,  let  me 
remind. you  of  the  figure  which  I  have  before 
spoken  of  as  concealed  behind  the  little  word 
addy  in  our  English  version,  and  which  gives 
a  peculiar  beauty  to  the  exhortation. 

In  ancient  Athens  there  was  a  class  of 
officers    called    chorus-leaders,    who    repre- 


TIIE   CHOEUS   LEADEE.  55d«> 

sented  the  various  tribes,  and  at  public  fes- 
tivals or  religious  rejoicings  for  a  victory, 
brought  out  a  chorus  to  lead  the  songs  of 
the  people.  These  leaders  were  not  always 
singers  or  practical  musicians,  but  they 
equipped  the  chorus  and  paid  the  cost  of 
marshalling  it  upon  public  occasions.*  Hence 
the  term  which  denoted  their  office  came  to 
mean  in  general,  "one  who  provides  sup- 
plies ;"  and  therefore,  as  in  the  text,  add  to, 
or  sujpjply  to  faith,  virtue,  and  the  whole  train 
of  graces. 

*  The  x^P'^y^^  {Choregos)  procured  the  chorus,  and  at  his 
own  expense  provided  it  with  instruction  and  equipments. 
He  was  the  Musical 'Manager  for  public  occasions  (See  in 
Schneider ;  also  Bockh,  Sub.  CEcon.  of  Athens,  1,487.  Also 
ia  Host  und  Palm.)  Demosthenes  and  ^schines  speak  of 
chorus-managers  as  appointed  by  each  tribe,  for  festive 
ceremonies.  Socrates,  in  extolling  the  executive  ability  of 
Antisthenes,  whom  the  Athenians  had  chosen  general,  says 
that  as  chorus-manager,  "  though  neither  skilled  in  music 
nor  in  teaching  a  chorus,  he  was  able  to  find  out  the  best 

masters  in  those  departments and  it  is  likely  that 

he  will  be  more  willing  to  spend  money  for  a  victory  in  war 
on  behalf  of  the  whole  state,  than  for  a  victory  with  a  cho- 
rus in  behalf  of  his  single  tribe."    This  statement  clearly 
defines  the  nature  and  functions  of  the  office. 
20* 


234:  THE    CHKISTIAN    GEACES. 

Faitli  is  the  leader  of  tins  choir;  Yirtue, 
Knowledge,  Temperance,  Patience,  Godliness, 
Brotherly-Love  and  Charity,  are  marshalled 
under  Faitli    as    their  leader,   to   swell   the 
praises  of  Christ,  from  an  obedient  and  loving 
sonl.     Faith  is  the  clef  ^hich.  gives  the  key 
in  which  these  seven  notes  of  the  perfect  scale 
are  sonnded.     Faith  organizes  and  sustains 
the  chorus,  and  has  a  place  for  each  in  its 
w^ell-trained  band.     Wheli  all  are  assembled, 
Faith  drills  them  into  harmony.     But  if  any 
one  be  wanting,  Faith  itself  appears  defective, 
and  the  soul  is  out  of  tune.     It  is  as  if  the 
first  violin  were  wanting  at  a  Philharmonic 
Concert,  or  the  trumpet  obligato  should  fail 
to  sound  in  the  resurrection  scene  of  Handel's 
Messiah.      Therefore  these   virtues  are  gra- 
duated to   each   other,   and  linked  together 
as  one.     As  an  old  writer*  observes,  ''  Each 
several   degree    induces  and  facilitates  that 
which  immediately  follows  it ;  each  following 
one,  attempers  and  perfects  that  which  has 
preceded  it."  Upon  this  hint  we  may  run  over 

*  Bengel  in  loc. 


THE   PERFECT   SCALE.  236 

the  scale  thus :  Yii'tue  a  strenuous,  vigorous 
tone  of  ]iiind  for  the  defence  of  truth,  is  the 
offspring  of  Faith;  this  Yirtue  makes  us 
active,  watchful,  circumspect,  and  so  leads  us 
to  cultivate  Knowledge — that  discerning  spirit 
which  comes  from  communion  with  Christ; 
this  Knowledge,  by  distinguishing  evil  from 
good,  at  their  very  source,  leads  to  Tew^jje- 
ranceov  self-control;  he  who  governs  himself 
gains  the  strength  of  Patienee  or  endurance ; 
he  who  cultivates  Patience  will  feel  as  the 
highest  motive  and  strength  for  this,  his  need 
of  that  reverential  regard  for  his  Maker 
which  is  true  Godliness  ^'  he  whose  heart  is 
sanctified  toward  God,  will  love  his  Brethren  y* 
and  he  who  has  right  Brotherly  Affection 
will  feel  his  Charity  overflowing  toward  all 
men — even  to  his  enemies;  and  this  Love 
completing  the  circle,  brings  him  back  again 
to  Faith  in  the  redeeming  and  renovating 
love  of  Christ  as  its  own  source  and  strength. 
Reversing  the  scale  and  playing  it  down- 
ward, we  find  the  notes  equally  perfect  and 
harmonious.  "He  who  has  true  Charity  will 
exercise  Brotherly-Love  without  particularity ; 


THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES. 

he  wIlo  has  Broiherly-Love  will  perceive 
clearly  that  Godliness  is  necessary  ;  the  godly 
will  not  alloy  his  Patience  with  a  stoical 
apathy ;  to  the  patient  man,  Temperance^  or 
self-moderation  is  easy;  the  temperate^  self- 
regulated  mind  weighs  all  things  with  calm- 
ness and  clearness,  and  thus  gathers  Know- 
ledge •  and  Knowledge  keeping  the  mind  in 
sympathy  with  the  will  of  God,  and  discrimi- 
nating as  to  times  and  seasons,  guards  the 
Christian  energy  of  the  mind,  which  is  its 
Virtue^  from  being  hurried  by  impulse  into 
a  headlong  zeal."^  And  when  we  have  thus 
sounded  each  separate  note,  and  tested  the 
chords  of  the  scale,  the  Spirit  of  inspiration 
breathes  upon  this  seven-stringed  harp,  and 
utters  this  symphony  of  the  perfect  Christian 
character  : — "  if  these  things  be  in  you,  and 
abound,  ye  shall  be  neither  slothful  nor  un- 
fruitful in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

To  have  and  to  give  satisfactory  evidence 
of  union  with  Christ  by  a  living  faith,  we 

*  Bengel. 


A  FATAL  DEFICIENCY.  237 

must  have  these  several  graces  in  a  high  and 
proportionate  state  of  cultivation  :  thej  must 
be  in  us  and  abound. 

Tlie  proper  development  of  these  graces 
will  cause  us  to  be  neither  idle  nor  unfruitful 
in  the  knowledge  of  Christ ;  but  the  want  of 
these  graces  will  prove  us  to  be  blind  as  to 
the  nature  and  design  of  the  Gospel,  and 
indifferent  to  that  grace  which  would  purge 
away  our  sins. 

Such  is  a  fair  paraphrase  of  the  text.  But 
to  analyze  it  more  particularly  with  a  view  to 
our  own  profit,  we  should  take  note, 

1.  That  one  who  is  wanting  in  these  graces, 
and  tahes  no  j^ains  to  cultivate  them,  has  no 
warrant  to  helieve  himself  a  Christian. 
Though  he  may  call  himself  a  follower  of 
Christ,  and  be  a  member  of  a  church  of 
Christ,  he  does  not  rightly  apprehend  the 
Gospel,  and  is  unmindful  alike  of  its  grace 
and  his  own  covenant.  That  he  who  lacks 
every  one  of  these  graces  cannot  be  a 
Christian,  need  not  be  argued  with  those 
who  regard  Christianity  as  anything  more 
than  a  system  of  doctrine  and  a  form  of  wor- 


238  THE   CHEISTIAN   aEACES. 

ship.  We  have  seen  that  every  one  of  these 
virtues  to  be  genuine,  must  have  its  seat  in 
the  soul,  must  constitute  a  state  of  the  mind 
itself,  and  proceed  from  within  outwards  in 
its  effect  upon  the  conduct.  Virtue  is  a 
manly  vigor  and  earnestness  for  truth  and 
duty,  which  only  a  firm  belief  and  ardent 
love  of  truth  can  inspire.  Knowledge  is  that 
heart-acquaintance  with  Christ  which  forms 
the  judgment  and  guides  the  mil  according 
to  Christ's  spirit  and  law.  Temperance  is  not 
mere  abstinence  from  outward  forms  of  evil, 
"but  the  regulation  of  the  desires  of  the  mind 
through  religious  principle.  Patience  is  for- 
titude under  suffering,  submission  under 
calamity  and  injury,  forbearance  under 
wrong,  grounded  upon  confidence  in  the 
government  of  God.  Godliness  is  the  inward 
reverence  of  the  mind  toward  God,  and  its 
controlling  consecration  to  .his  service.  Bro- 
therly-Love and  Charity  are  affections  of  the 
soul,  and  can  sj)ring  only  from  a  mind  23uri- 
fied  from  selfishness,  and  renovated  by  grace. 
Every  one  of  these  virtues  being  thus  inward 
and  spiritual,  and  having  an  intimate   and 


THE  BULBOUS   ROOT.  239 

necessary  relation  to  faith  in  Clirist,  where 
these  are  wanting  there  can  be  no  living 
germinating  faith.  "  Faith,  if  it  hath  not 
works,  is  dead,  being  by  itself."  Even  in 
Abraham  the  Father  of  the  faithful,  "faith 
wrought  with  his  works,  and  by  works  was 
faith  made  perfect,"  or  complete  in  its  devel- 
opment. 

The  heart  in  which  the  renewing  spirit  of 
God  has  begun  to  operate,  is  like  a  bulbous 
root,  in  which,  beneath  the  dead  leaves  and 
scales  of  its  old  selfish  and  formal  life  is  now 
deposited  a  new  life  and  nutrition  as  its 
most  central  force.  This  centre  develops  up- 
ward the  stalk,  leaves  and  flowers,  and  at  the 
same  time  emits  roots  downward ;  and  the 
growth  of  the  roots  always  keeps  pace  with, 
and  insures  the  development  of  the  leaves 
and  flowers;  for  the  moisture  which  is  ex- 
haled by  the  evaporation  of  the  leaves  or  con- 
sumed in  growth,  must  be  continually  sup- 
plied through  the  tender  absorbing  tips  and 
cells  of  the'  root,  which  are  renewed  and 
increased  by  the  growth  of  root  fibres.  Faith 
quickened  by  the  gracious  Spirit  which  has 


240  THE   CIIKISTIAN   GRACES. 

taken  possession  of  the  heart,  shoots  its  fibres 
downward,  and  by  a  thousand  rootlets  fastens 
the  heart  to  every  truth  and  promise  of  God's 
word;  and  absorbing  the  water  of  life,  con- 
veys this  upward  to  feed  and  stimulate  the 
leaves  and  flowers  that  expand  in  the  open 
air ;  so  every  visible  growth  in  the  graces  of 
the  Christian  character  marks  an  inward 
growth  of  faith,  and  every  flower  that 
breathes  its  fragrance  on  the  outer  world 
only  exhales  something  of  that  spirit  of  life 
and  love  which  faith  has  absorbed  from  the 
living  spring.  Could  you  hold  your  heart  in 
a  glass  you  would  see  that  for  every  virtue 
and  grace  which  it  makes  manifest.  Faith  has 
roots  in  the  w^aters.  If  no  leaves  and  flowers 
are  put  forth,  be  "  assured  there  are  no  roots 
beneath.  If  there  are  no  visible  graces,  there 
is  no  living  faith.  If  the  heart  does  not  open 
and  expand  with  virtue,  godliness  and  charity, 
it  is  not  rooted  in  Christ,  it  does  not  drink  Jn 
the  spirit  of  Christ.  It  is  nothing  but  a  close, 
hard,  thick  mass  of  dry  dead  scales  and 
leaves,  without  form  or  comeliness,  without 
life  or  root.     "  Faith  without  w^orks  is  dead," 


THE  cheistian's  covenaot:'.  241 

even  as  the  body  without  the  spirit.  He  who 
lacks  all  these  vital  graces  of  the  Christian* 
character,  cannot  be  a  Christian. 

The  text,  using  another  figure,  represents 
him  as  Hind,  blear-eyed,  dim-sighted,  n^t  dis- 
cerning the  truth  and  glory  of  the  Gospel  in 
Christ ;  accepting  Christianity  j  ust  as  a  Greek 
would  accept  a  new  system  of  philosophy,  as 
a  mere  speculative  faith;  or  as  the  Jew  re- 
garded his  forms,  as  a  machinery  of  religious 
duty  to  work  his  passage  to  Heaven ;  thus 
making  Christianity  a  thing  external  to  him- 
self instead  of  a  power  within  himself,  he  is 
blind  to  the  saving  knowledge  of  the  Gospel 
of  Christ.  He  has  forgotten  that  he  was 
purged  from  his  old  sins.  The  ordinance  of 
baptism,  which  as  a  new  rite  in  its  Christian 
significance  had  been  administered  to  every 
convert,  was  a  symbol  of  purification  from 
sin — "  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  re- 
newing of  the  Holy  Ghost."  The. covenant 
with  Christ  was  a  covenant  to  renounce  the 
lusts  of  the  flesh  and  all  ungodliness ;  the  very 
object  of  the  redemption  by  Christ  was  to  de- 
liver .from  sin,  not  only  as  a  curse  under  the 
21 


242  THE   CimiSTIAN   GRACES. 

law,  but  as  a  power  of  evil,  working  deatli  in 
the  soul.  He  therefore  who  calls  himself  a 
Christian,  and  has  made  this  sacred  covenant 
of  faith,  if  he  does  not  grow  in  grace,  and 
bring  ♦forth  the  fruits  of  holiness  in  his  life, 
shows  clearly  that  he  has  departed  from  the 
whole  design  of  the  Gospel  as  a  system  of  re- 
generation, sanctification,  and  spiritual  life, 
and  has  forsaken  his  own  vow  to  follow  Christ 
and  to  become  like  him.  There  can  be  no 
such  thing  as  a  true  experience  of  Christianity, 
a  living  faith  in  Christ,  a  genuine  hearty  con- 
secration to  Him,  where  these  seven  essential 
virtues  of  a  Christian  character  do  not  appear 
in  the  life. 

But  must  we  not  go  further,  and  admit  as 
the  true  teaching  of  the  text,  that  if  a  person 
is  entirely  deficient  as  to  any  one  of  these 
graces,  neither  having  it,  nor  seeking  to  culti- 
vate it,  he  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  Christian  ? 
I  do  not  understand  the  apostle  to  teach  that 
completeness  in  each  of  these  virtues,  and  the 
exact  proportion  and  harmony  of  the  whole, 
are  essential  to  a  Christian  character ;  but  are 
not  these  graces  themselves,  each  and  all  of 


PETteE   AND  CEANMEE.  243 

them,  so  essential  to  that  character  that  if  any 
one  of  them  is  wholly  -vfanting,  neither  pos- 
sessed nor  sought  after,  he  who  is  thus  defi- 
cient is  blind  and  destitute  as  to  the  Christian 
character  and  life?  A  true  Christian  may 
betray  a  lack  of  moral  courage  in  certain 
emergencies,  as  did  Peter  after  the  arrest  of 
Jesus.  Tlie  repentance  and  subsequent  devo- 
tion of  Peter  prove  that  he  had  a  true  love  for 
Christ  in  his  heart.  But  suppose  Peter  had 
continued  to  deny  Christ  at  every  approach 
of  danger,  should  we  not  have  classed  him 
with  the  apostate  Judas?  Can  a  man  be  a 
Christian  w^ho  never  stands  up  for  Jesus  ? 

Cranmer  signed  six  successive  recantations, 
through  nervous  apprehension  of  the  stake  ; 
but  we  forgive  them  all  when  we  see  him 
bound  to  the  stake  at  last,  holding  his  right 
hand  in  the  midst  of  the  flame  and  saying, 
"This  hand  ofiended,  this  hand  shall  sufi'er, 
this  unworthy  hand."  But  what  if  he  had 
vacillated  imto  the  end,  and  had  died  recant- 
ing? 

One  may  be  a  true  Christian  wliose  know- 
ledge of  Christian  doctrine  is  meagre,  and 


24:4  THE  CflEISTIAN  GEACES. 

who  makes  frequent  mistakes  in  practice. 
But  if  after  five,  ten,  twenty  years,  one  knows 
no  more  of  the  Bible,  and  has  no  more  heart- 
knowledge  of  Christ,  shall  we,  continue  to 
regard  his  experience  of  conversion  as 
genuine  ? 

A  good  man  like  Noah,  may  drink  too 
much  of  the  fruit  of  his  vineyard,  and  may  lie 
exposed  to  the  shame  even  of  his  own  child- 
ren. But  if  Koah  had  omitted  to  profit  by 
this  warning,  and  had  yielded  to  the  love  of 
wine,  could  we  revere  him  as  a  godly  man  ? 
If  David,  instead  of  repenting  of  his  crime, 
had  repeated  it,  could  we  have  any  more  hope 
of  him  than  we  have  of  Solomon  ? 

A  true  Christian  may  sometimes  be  impa- 
tient, fretful,  peevish,  angry ;  but  if  one  is 
always  complaining  of  God,  and  always  irri- 
table toward  men,  and  is  not  studying  to  be 
patient,  can  we  continue  to  regard  him  as  a 
Christian,  because  he  comes  to  the  Lord's 
table,  and  prays  in  his  family  ? 

A  true  Christian  may  sometimes  forget  the 
presence  of  God,  and  may  even  turn  away 
from  God :  but  if  one  always  disregards  the 


SYMMETRY  OF  CHARACTER.  245 

eje  of  God,  and  exhibits  no  godliness  in  heart 
and  life,  can  he  be  a  true  child  of  God? 

A  true  Christian  may  sometimes  be  angry 
with  a  brother ;  uncharitable,  censorious ;  but 
if  when  shown  his  faults  he  does  not  make 
amends,  and  seek  to  cultivate  and  manifest 
brotherly  love,  can  he  belong  to  the  family  of 
Christ  ? 

A  Christian  may  sometimes  neglect  a  call 
of  charity,  or  set  aside  a  real  claim  upon  his 
love.  But  if  he  never  heeds  such  a  call, 
never  seeks  to  do  good,  locks  up  his  heart  in 
selfish  exclusiveness,  can  he  be  a  child  of  our 
Father  in  heaven  ? 

Moreover,  since  all  these  graces  may  be 
imitated,  the  positive  and  entire  lack  of  one 
proves  the  rest  to  be  counterfeit  or  super- 
ficial. 

2.  A  full  and  symmetrical  developm^ent  of 
these  graces  is  the  most  satisfactory  evidence 
and  the  most  heautiful  exhibition  of  Christian 
faith.  The  mind  delights  in  symmetry.  The 
symmetrical  development  of  the  human  form, 
in  which  each  member  and  feature,  perfect  in 
21* 


246  THE   CHKISTIAN    GRACES. 

itself,  is  well  proportioned  to  every  other — ^so 
that  the  impression  you  receive  is  not  that  of 
a  fine  eye,  a  well-turned  lip,  a  noble  brow,  a 
good  figure,  but  of  a  comjplete  man — this  is 
our  ideal  of  beauty.  This  symmetry  of  form 
and  feature,  extending  to  every  line  of  the 
countenance  and  every  muscle  of  the  ana- 
tomy, is  the  life-like  perfection  of  the  statue ; 
proportion  is  indispensable  to  beauty  in  archi- 
tecture ;  symmetry  and  perspective  to  the 
harmony  of  colors,  to  the  efi'ect  of  painting ; 
chord  and  harmonies,  preserved  even  in  the 
most  difiicult  combinations  of  sound,  are  the 
highest  charm  of  music ;  rhythm,  the  mea- 
sured and  regular  succession  of  sounds,  is 
essential  to  good  poetry;  the  proportion  of 
numbers  and  of  mathematical  laws  enters  into 
every  science  which  aims  at  completeness ;  and 
the  soul  of  man  has  even  transferred  its  own 
feeling  of  harmony  to  the  inaudible  move- 
ments of  the  planets,  under  the  poetic  fiction 
of  "  the  music  of  the  spheres." 

Hus  Milton,  in  his  rapturous  hymn  for 
the  birth  of  Christ,  invokes  this  celestial 
music : 


MUSIC   OF   TIIE   SPHERES.  247 

"  Ring  out,  ye  crystal  spheres, 
Once  bless  our  human  ears 
(If  ye  have  power  to  touch  our  senses  so) ; 
And  let  your  silver  chime 
Move  in  melodious  time  ; 
And  let  the  base  of  Heaven's  deep  organ  blow ; 
And  with  your  ninefold  harmony, 
Make  up  full  concert  to  th'  angelic  symphony." 

Sliakspeare  had  anticipated  this  sentiment :    * 

"  There's  not  the  smallest  orb  which  thou  behold'st, 
But  in  his  motion  like  an  angel  sings, 
Still  quiring  to  the  young-eyed  cherubim." 

And  Tennyson  represents  tne  poor  crazed 
lover  of  Maud  as  finding  his  heart  tuned  with 
the  "  noiseless  mnsic  of  the  night." 

"  Beat,  happy  stars,  timing  with  things  below. 
Beat  with  my  heart  more  ble.st  than  heart  can  tell." 

But  in  nothing  is  this  symmetry  so  stren- 
uously insisted  upon  as  in  moral  character. 
The  sharp  and  sometimes  carping  criticism  of 
men  of  the  world  upon  the  faults  and  even 
the  peccadilloes  of  professed  Christians,  shows 
the  demand  of  conscience  for  convpleteness  of 
character,  and  does  homage  to   Christianity 


248  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

itself  as  a  complete  system  of  morality ;  for, 
to  charge  tlie  least  fault  upon  a  Christian  as 
an  inconsistency^  is  to  admit  that  Christianity 
requires,  and  is  fitted  to  produce  moral  perfec- 
tion ;  and  the  quickness  of  a  non-professor  to 
expose  the  deficiencies  of  a  professor,  shows 
that  his  own  moral  sense  demands  complete- 
ness of  moral  character  as  truly  as  his  eye 
demands  the  beauty  of  proportion.  ]^o 
declaration  of  a  personal  faith  in  Christ, 
no  theological  knowledge,  no  experimental 
frames,  no  charitable  deeds,  can  give  so 
strong  and  satisfactory  evidence  of  Christian 
character  as  does  the  full  and  symmetrical 
development  of  these  graces.  These  are  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit,  the  outgrowth  of  faith; 
and  in  proportion  to  the  completeness  of  their 
development,  is  the  evidence  of  a  living  faith 
and  the  living  energy  of  the  Spirit  within  the 
soul. 

Hence  the  E'ew  Testament  lays  much  stress 
upon  completeness  of  Christian  character ;  for 
the  word  "  perfection  "  signifies  not  so  much 
the  absolute  sinlessness  of  a  sanctified  nature, 
as  the    completeness,   the  full    symmetrical 


THE  TRUE   PERFECTION.  249 

development  of  the  renewed  man  in  all  the 
graces  of  the  Christian  life.  "This  also  we 
wish,  even  your  perfection; — ^night  and  day 
praying  exceedingly  that  we  might  see  your 
face,  and  might  perfect — i.  e.  complete — that 
which  is  lacking  in  your  faith.  .  .  .  laboring 
fervently  for  you  in  prayers,  that  ye  may 
stand  perfect  and  complete  in  all  the  will  of 
God."  "  The  God  of  peace  make  you  perfect 
in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will,  working  in 
you  that  which  is  well-pleasing  in  his  sight, 
through  Jesus  Christ."  "  Let  patience  have  her 
perfect  work,  that  ye  may  be  perfect  and 
entire,  wanting  nothing.''^  The  "perfect" 
man  is  one  who  with  respect  to  moral  prin- 
ciple has  reached  his  completed  growth ;  in 
whom  the  graces  of  the  Christian  character 
are  no  longer  in  the  feebleness  of  infancy,  but 
have  attained  to  order,  strength  and  ma- 
turity. 

This  conscious,  steady,  visible  growth  in  all 
the  graces  is  the  best  evidence  of  a  renewed 
heart.  He  who  does  not  find  his  interest  in 
and  his  courage  for  the  truth  strengthening 
with  new  demands  upon  his  faith ;  who  does 


250  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

not  gain  a  clearer  knoAvledge  of  the  Scriptures 
and  a  fuller  heart-knowledge  of  Christ ;  who 
does  not  increase  in  his  power  of  self-control 
and  of  endurance  under  trial ;  who  does  not 
grow  in  the  spirit  of  reverence  and  obedience 
toward  God ;  who  does  not  feel  more  and  more 
the  spirit  of  love  ; — can  the  faith  which  such 
a  one  professes,  unattested  by  these  fruits, 
save  him  ?  But  where  such  fruits  exist  there 
is  the  constant  evidence  of*  saving  faith. 
Therefore  should  we  give  all  diligence  not 
only  that  these  things  shall  be  in  us,  each 
and  all  of  them,  but  also  that  they  shall 
abound^  be  more  and  more  developed  and 
exemplified.  This  is  the  summing  up  of  the 
apostle's  exhortation.  The  apostles  did  not 
think  it  enough  to  get  one  within  the  pale  of 
the  Church  of  Christ.  Tliey  did  not  rest  upon 
the  simple  fact  of  conversion  as  sealing  one 
infallibly  for  heaven;  but  regarded  this  as 
only  the  beginning  of  a  new  life  to  be  assidu- 
ously cultivated.  The  epistles  of  the  ]^ew 
Testament  are  almost  exclusively  a  doctrhial 
and  practical  manual  for  the  improvement  of 
ChrisUcms. 


COMPLETENESS   OF  THE  BIBLE.  251 

This  full  and  symmetrical  development  of 
the  Christian  graces  makes  to  the  world  a 
most  beantifiil  and  convincing  exhibition  of 
the  Christian  faith.  The  completeness  of  the 
moral  system  propounded  by  Christ  is  an  ele- 
ment of  its  perfection,  and  a  mark  of  its 
divinity.  A  profound  thinker  has  well  said, 
"  Almost  every  excellence  in  the  science  of 
morals  has  been  attained  by  sages,  except 
completeness  and  consistency;  the  complete- 
ness and  consistency  of  its  morality  is  the 
peculiar  praise  of  the  ethics  which  the  Bible 
has  taught.  Often,  if  we  might  so  speak,  the 
strength  of  the  materials  of  six  parts  of  moral- 
ity have  been  brought  together,  wherewith 
to  construct  a  seventh  part ;  and  so  much  of 
magnificence  and  elevation  has  by  this  means 
been  obtained  for  the  single  virtue,  whether 
it  were  fortitude,  courage,  patriotism,  or  bene- 
ficence, that  mankind,  in  their  admiration, 
have  forgotten  the  cost  at  which  it  has  been 
produced."*  The  same  writer  regards  this 
passage  in  Peter  as  a  condensed  but  compre- 
hensive caution  against  each  of  the  prominent 

*  Isaac  Taylor. 


252  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACES.  * 

corruptions  that  have  developed  themselves 
in  the  church.  In  some  periods  of  her  history 
the  church  has  been  marked  by  a  "  pusillani- 
mous or  inert  faith ;"  again,  in  other  periods 
by  "  the  licentious  abuse  of  the  Gospel ;  a  fan- 
atical subjugation  of  animal  desires ;  monkish 
pietism;  sectarian  and  factious  sociality." 
Our  degenerate  Christianity  is  always  one- 
sided, or  vibrating  from  one  extreme  to  an- 
other. 

A  perfect  Christian  character  is  one  in 
enumerating  whose  graces  you  can  always 
say  and^  and  never  interpose  a  lut.  The 
average  Christian  character  is  sadly  marred 
by  that  little  disjunctive  conjunction ; — He  is 
a  very  good  man— 5i^^  /  He  is  kind  and  cha- 
ritable at  heart — lut  rough  and  irritable  in 
manner ;  He  is  temperate  and  patient — lut 
lacking  charity;  He  is  reverent  and  devout — 
lut  lacks  moral  courage.  But  the  apostle 
bids  us  grow  by  additions — to  Faith  Virtue, 
and  Knowledge,  and  Temperance,  and  Pa- 
tience, and  Godliness,  and  Brotherly-Kind- 
ness, and  Charity. 

3.  The  abounding  of  these  graces  i  i  the  soul 


GOOD  HOETICTJLTUEE.  253 

will  make  %t  fridtful  in  the  hiowledge  of 
Christ — will  insiore  for  it  a  jprogressive  and 
rewarding  piety.  He  who  makes  a  profession 
of  liis  faith,  and  then  looks  to  that  act  or  to 
his  church  covenant  to  give  him  the  fruit  and 
the  jo  J  of  the  Christian,  he  who  thus  relies 
upon  a  naked  system  of  doctrine,  or  a  mere 
form  of  worship,  will  surely  fail ;  for  he  takes 
an  empty  husk  of  religion  and  gets  nothing  of 
the  meat  of  the  word.  Thje  relation  of  heart- 
culture  to  the  enjoyment  of  religion,  is  like 
that  of  good  agriculture  to  a  good  crop. 

You  cannot  have  a  garden  by  merely  pur- 
chasing a  place.  The  soil  may  be  of  excellent 
quality,  and  the  situation  most  favorable ;  the 
title  may  be  well  secured,  and  the  party  of 
whom  you  buy  may  make  most  abundant 
promises  as  to  the  fertility  and  beauty  of  the 
ground ;  but  unless  you  give  all  diligence  to 
mahe  and  stock  the  garden,  imless  you  dig 
and  plant,  and  weed  and  trim,  your  title, 
deed,  and  promises  will  not  give  you  a  single 
shrub  or  flower.  If  you  would  know  the 
fruitfulness  of  your  estate,  and  thus  become 
yourself  fruitful  iu  the  knowledge  of  its  quali- 
22 


254:  THE   CHEISTIAN    GEACES. 

ties  and  the  enjoyment  of  its  products,  you 
must  not  sit  in  your  library  and  study  the 
plan  and  deeds  of  your  grounds,  and  read 
books  of  horticulture  and  hear  lectures  on  gar- 
dening, but  you  must  take  pains  to  bring 
forth  each  fruit  and  plant  in  its  season,  and 
the  ordered-beauty  of  the  whole.  If  well  se- 
lected fruits  and  flowers  are  in  your  garden 
and  abound,  they  will  make  you  fruitful  in  the 
knowledge  of  its  capacities  and  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  its  pleasures.  Thus  and  thus  only 
can  the  heart  delight  in  the  service  of  God — 
when  all  Christian  graces  are  in  it  and  abound. 
Two  reflections  are  obvious  here  : 
1.  If  Christians  find  no  enjoyment  in  re- 
ligion^ it  is  hecause  they  ham  failed  to  culti- 
vate its  ^particular  and  combined  graces.  The 
comforts  and  pleasures  of  religion  do  not  come 
to  us  when  made  the  specific  objects  of  our 
seeking.  He  who  hunts  after  a  hope  seldom 
finds  it.  It  is  like  trying  to  catch  the  rain- 
bow. But  the  moment  he  comes  to  Christ  in 
the  spirit  of  trust  and  love  and  obedience,  the 
grace  of  Jesus  smiling  upon  his  tears  of  peni- 
tence, makes  a  rainbow  in  his  soul.     He  who 


GROWTH  OF   A   CHUECH.  255 

limits  after  tlie  comforts  and  joys  wMcli  the 
Gospel  promises,  may  not  find  tliem  for  all  his 
seeking ;  but  if  he  will  follow  the  Gospel  with 
his  whole  heart,  seeking  to  form  his  character 
to  it,  not  as  by  square  and  rule,  but  in  the 
spirit  of  love,  he  is  entitled  to  comfort  and 
joy,  and  should  make  all  the  promises  his 
own.  The  dyspeptic  who  sits  in  the  house 
watching  the  effect  of  his  diet,  and  noting 
every  symptom,  will  find  little  improvement 
in  health.  Persuade  him  into  the  garden, 
get  him  at  work  among  the  flowers,  and  he 
•will  breathe  another  air,  and  feel  a  strange 
vigor  and  joy  tingling  in  his  veins.  Unhappy 
Christians  are  for  the  most  part  graceless 
Christians. 

2.  The  highest  fruitfulness  of  a  church  is 
to  1)6  secured  hy  the  ^perfecting  of  personal 
character  in  its  iiurribers.  It  has  become  a 
chronic  error  with  Christians  to  look  to  or- 
ganic arrangements  and  demonstrative  mea- 
sures for  increasing  the  power  of  "  the 
Church,"  whereas  the  one  thing  needed  is  the 
vital  power  of  godliness  in  individual  Christ- 
ians.   When  you  hear  a  symphony  of  Bee- 


256  THE   CHRISTIAN   GEACE8. 

thoven,  or  a  concerto  or  overture  of  Mendels- 
solin  fitly  rendered,  you  do  not  care  to  see  the 
meclianism  of  the  performance ;  and  it  would 
mar  the  effect  if  the  conductor  should  grow 
boisterous,  or  if  any  one  performer,  by  his  man- 
ners, should  make  himself  conspicuous.  You 
would  rather  close  your  eyes  and  drink  in  the 
sweet  and  grand  concord  of  sound — as  violin 
and  violoncello,  trumpet  and  bassoon,  flute 
and  oboe,  cymbal  and  trombone,  all  fulfill  their 
parts,  merging  in  faultless  harmony.  But  in 
order  to  this  perfection,  each  separate  player 
and  instrument  must  be  drilled  in  time,  ac- 
cent, and  style ;  if  the  horn  has  but  one  bar 
in  an  entire  overture,  that  must  be  pl^ed  just 
at  the  noted  instant;  if  the  drum  is  to  beat 
but  once,  it  must  beat  that  once  and  upon  the 
instant.  As  the  musical  conductor  arranges 
his  orchestra,  by  first  stationing  his  violins, 
and  adding  to  these  his  basses,  and  adding  to 
these  his  wind  instruments,  all  nicely  balanced, 
and  adding  to  these  his  cymbals  and  drums ; 
so  should  a  church  marshal  its  strength  by 
bringing  out  the  quality  of  each  individual 
member  and  effectually  combining  the  whole. 


LIVING  GRACES.  257 

Ko  gaudy  decorations  of  the  concert  hall,  no 
flaming  advertisements,  no  skill  of  the  con- 
ductor, can  be  a  substitute  for  the  full-toned 
symphony.  A  Church  of  Christ  can  live  only 
by  the  living  graces  of  its  members.  Where- 
fore, "let  these  things  he  in  you  and  dboundP 


I7> 


22* 


LECTURE  IX. 
FEOM  GEACE  TO  GLORY. 

Wherefore  the  rather,  brethren,  give  diligence  to  make 
your  calling  and  election  sure  :  for  if  ye  do  these  things  ye 
shall  never  fall :  for  so  an  entrance  shall  be  ministered  to 
you  abundantly  into  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. — 2  Peter,  i.  10,  11. 

UT  do  not  our  calling  and  election  pro- 
ceed from  God?  Are  tliey  not  his 
spontaneous  act,  resting  in  and  re- 
sulting from  his  original,  independent, 
and  eternal  purpose  of  grace  ?  How 
then  can  these  be  made  sure  by  any  action  of 
ours  ?  .  Can  we  add  anything  to  the  original 
gi'ound  of  certainty  touching  any  event  in  the 
mind  and  plan  of  God  ?  Can  we  confirm  Je- 
hovah himself  in  his  purpose,  or  bring  con- 
firmation to  any  of  his  promises  ?  ISTay,  "He 
is  in  one  mind  and  who  can  turn  Him?"  "He 
doeth  according  to  his  will  in  the  army  of 
heaven,  and   among  the  inhabitants  of  the 


THE  COVENANT  OF  GEACE.        259 

cartL."  "  The  foundation  of  God  standeth  sure, 
having  this  seal :  The  Lord  knoweth  them 
that  are  His."  And  can  we  make  that  more 
sure  ?  Can  anj  diligence  of  ours  strengthen 
and  establish  the  foundation  of  God's  eternal 
knowledge  and  electing  love  ?  And  yet  the 
apostle  Peter,  who  addresses  his  fellow-dis- 
ciples as  "  elect  according  to  the  foreknowledge 
of  God  the  Father,"  exhorts  them  "to  give 
diligence  to  make  their  calling  and  election 
sure." 

The  sureness  to  be  attained  is  the  sureness 
of  evidence  concerning  a  fact  which  God  does 
not  reveal  to  individuals,  or  make  known  by 
miraculous  signs,  but  which  is  certified  to 
exist  by  evidences  which  men  themselves  can 
bring  out,  take  note  of,  and  increase  beyond 
the  possibility  of  a  question.  Christ,  in  that 
I^ew  Testament  which  he  sealed  with  his 
blood,  left  for  us  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises.  But  do  not  presume  upon  your  ex- 
pectations,— ^like  some  graceless  heir  upon  an 
estate  which  he  counts  as  already  his  own,  and 
mortgages  and  squanders  before  it  comes  into 
his  hands, — do  not  rest  in  carnal  ease  and  se- 


260  THE   CimiSTIAN   GRACES. 

curity,  as  if  you  had  only  to  await  a  summons 
from  tlie  Court  of  Heaven  to  enter  into  the 
enjoyment  of  your  inheritance.  Go  early  and 
earnestly  to  the  Court  of  Probate,  and  make 
sure  that  your  name  is  found  in  the  will,  com- 
ply with  every  technicality,  fulfill  every  con- 
dition, and  thus  make  sure  your  part  in  the 
inheritance. 

God  the  Father  has  a  covenant  of  redemp- 
tion with  his  Son,  which  the  Saviour  thus 
refers  to  in  his  prayer  before  the  crucifixion. 
"Glorify  thy  Son  that  thy  Son  may  also  glo- 
rify thee,  as  thou  hast  given  him  power  over 
all  flesh  that  he  should  give  eternal  life  to  as 
many  as  thou  hast  given  him.  Holy  Father, 
keep  through  thine  own  name  those  whom 
thou  hast  given  me."  But  while  this  cove- 
nant of  the  Father  with  the  Son — designed  not 
as  against  men,  to  shut  them  out  from  the 
benefits  of  Christ's  death ;  but  for  men,  to 
insure  the  acceptance  of  Christ  by  so  many 
that  he  shall  not  have  died  in  vain ; — while 
this  covenant  of  the  Father  with  the  Son  does 
make  sure  a  godly  seed,  the  Son  also  has  a 
covenant  with  men  declaring  that  "he  that 


MOTIVES   TO  DILIGENCE.  261 

believetli  sliall  be  saved,"  and  the  names  of  all 
true  believers  are  registered  in  bis  book — the 
Lamb's  Book  of  Life — as  tbe  heirs  of  that  re- 
demption promised  by  the  Father ;  so  that  it 
stands  thus:  the  Father  hath  covenanted  to 
give  to  his  Son  a  godly  seed ;  who  these  are 
appears,  as  the  names  of  believers  are  success- 
ively registered  in  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life, 
to  wit :  Panl,  Pete*r,  James,  John,  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  Jude,  Barnabas,  Apollos,  Mar- 
tha, Mary,  Elizabeth,  Phoebe,  Priscilla,  Lydia, 
Eunice,  and  "  all  that  are  sanctified  in  Christ 
Jesus,  called  to  be  saints,"  ''all  that  in  every 
place  call  upon  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."'  Make  sure  that  your  name  is  on  that 
register,  and  you  vrill  have  made  "your  call- 
ing and  election  sure  " — ^liave  become  certified 
of  it,  as  if  a  voice  from  heaven  had  said, 
"  This  is  my  beloved  Son." 

I.  The  text  presents  God's  calling  and 

ELECTION   OF   HIS    PEOPLE  AS   A  MOTIVE    TO   DILI- 
GENCE ON  THEIE  PART  IN  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

n.  The  Virtijes  and  graces  of  the  Christian 

CHARACTER  IN  FULL  AND  SYMMETRICAL  DEVELOP- 


262  THE   CHEISTIAN   GKACES. 

MENT,  GIVE  TO  THEIK  POSSESSOR  THE  ASSUEANCE 
OF  HIS  PERSONAL  CALL  AND  ELECTION. 

in.   This  complete   Christian    character 

ATTAINED  IN  LIFEy  ASSURES  PEACE  AND  TRIUMPH 
IN  DEATH,  AND  A  JOYFUL  ENTRANCE  INTO  ETER- 
NAL  LIFE. 

"  Wherefore,  brethren,  give  diligence  to 
make  your  calling  and  election  sure ;  for  if  ye 
do  these  things  ye  shall  ne-ver  fall ;  for  so  an 
entrance  shall  be  ministered  to  you  abundantly 
into  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

1.  The  tex\  presents  God^s  calling  and  elec- 
tion of  his  people  as  a  motive  to  diligence  on 
their  part  in  the  Christian  life,  Th^  Bible 
never  represents  the  fact  that  all  believers  are 
called  of  God  by  his  Spirit  as  superseding  in 
the  least  the  necessity  of  personal  effort  for 
the  attainment  of  holiness ;  but  makes  this 
fact  a  ground  of  exhortation  to  diligence  and 
perseverance.  Let  it  be  fixed  in  our  minds  as 
the  Bible  doctrine  upon  this  subject,  that  God's 
purposes  of  grace  hinder  the  salvation  of  no 
man,  but  are  the  crowning  help  and  encour- 
agement of  every  earnest  seeker  of  salvation. 


THE   DIVINl  PURPOSES.  263 

The  reason  why  many  regard  the  purposes 
of  God,  even  in  the  application  of  his  grace,  as 
in  some  way  a  barrier  to  their  own  eifort,  is 
that  they  conceive  of  all  God's  purposes  as 
being  executed  .by  physical  and  irresistible 
force.  But  aJittle  reflection  will  show  that 
this  objection  does  not  lie,  and  in  fact  that  it 
is  contradicted  by  our  own  consciousness.  K 
the  purpose  of  God's  grace  in  our  salvation  is 
a  barrier  to  our  eifort  for  salvatio«,  it  must  be 
so  not  merely  because  of  its  existence  as  a  pur- 
pose in  the  mind  of  God,  but  because  of  the 
mode  of  its  execution.  If  God  at  any  point 
comes  in  conflict  with  our  free  agency,  it 
must  be  in  carrying  out  his  purpose,  and  not 
simply  in  having  a  purpose.  For  example : 
You  have  purposed  to  send  your  son  to  col- 
lege, and  to  educate  him  for  the  ministry; 
and  with  a  view  to  this  you  have  already 
placed  him  at  a  preparatory  school.  He  is 
well  enough  pleased  with  his  school,  but  does 
not  care  for  a  liberal  and  professional  educa- 
tion ;  and  therefore  has  not  set  his  own  mind 
upon  a  student-life.  Kow  your  mere  purjpose 
to  send  him  to  college,  while  it  lies  in  your 


264:  THE    CHRISTIAN    GKACES. 

own  mind  simply  as  a  purpose,  does  not  affect 
Lis  clioice.     He  may  know  notliing  of  your 
purpose  in  the  matter,  and  of  course  he  cannot 
be  in  the  least  disabled  by  it  in  his  own  pre- 
ferences.     Besides,    your  purpose   does  not 
include  the  intention  to  coerc^  him  to  go  to 
college  against  his  will,  but  only  in  due  time 
to  use  such  rational  and  moral  influences  as 
shall  secure  that  result.     Now,  since  the  pur- 
pose in  action  is  not  to  be  enforced  by  physi- 
cal coercion,  the  bare  existence  of  the  purpose 
in    your    mind    cannot    coerce    your    child, 
though  it  should  lie  in  your  mind  for  ten 
years,  and  all  that  time  unconsciously  to  him, 
should  shape  the  course  of  his  studies  with  a 
view  to    your    object.      By   and  by,   when 
through  this  quiet  ordering  of  things  accord- 
ing to  your  purpose,  he  has  acquired  a  taste 
for  study,  and  has  gained  some  maturity  of 
judgment,  you  broach  to  him  the  cherished 
purpose  of  your  heart.     But  as  you  do  not 
attempt  to  coerce  him  into  your  way  of  think- 
ing, the  fact  that  you  have  had  siicli  a  purpose 
for  ten  years,   no  more  impairs   his   liberty 
of  action  than  if  it  were  with  you  a  sudden 


THE  COLLEGE  STUDENT.         265 

tliouglit.  Yet  this  purpose  of  yours,  while 
not  coercive,  and  therefore  not  a  hindrance 
to  his  freedom,  may  prove  persuasive,  and  be 
the  crowning  argument  and  influence  that 
leads  to  its  own  accomplishment.  You  set  be- 
fore him  the  advantages  of  the  course  of  life 
you  have  marked  out  for  him.;  and  you  say  to 
him,  "  My  son,  this  has  been  the  cherished 
purpose  of  my  heart  for  ten  years ;  and  with 
a  view  to  it  I  have  given  you  a  preparatory 
education,  and  have  yearly  laid  by  a  sum  of 
money  at  interest  for  your  support  in  college." 
Might  not  the  evidence  of  such  a  purpose  on 
your  part  determine  him  to  do  your  choice, 
and  spur  him  on  to  give  all  diligence  to  make 
his  education  sure.  "Where  there  is  no  force 
in  the  execution  of  a  purpose,  the  existence 
of  the  purpose  can  no  more  impair  or  restrain 
liberty  than  the  atmosphere  of  the  earth  can 
hinder  the  rising  of  the  sun. 

A  young  man  in  college  was  addressed  by 
a  brother-student  with  reference  to  his  per- 
sonal salvation.  Yielding  to  argument  and 
entreaty,  he  gave  up  his  heart  to  Christ  to  be 
his  servant,  and  at  once  resolved  that  he 
23 


266  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES.  ' 

would  become  a  missionary.  Just  at  this 
time  lie  received  from  his  mother,  two  hun- 
dred miles  away,  a  letter  urging  him  anew  to 
give  himself  to  Christ,  and  reminding  him 
that  in  his  infancy  she  had  dedicated  him  to 
God  to  be  a  missionary,  Now,  did  that 
mother's  purpose  at  all  restrain  the  freedom 
of  her  son  ?  On  the  contrary,  was  it  not  an 
incentive  and  encouragement  to  him  to  carry 
out  the  choice  to  which  he  found  his  heart 
inclined  ? 

"Well,  if  God  also  had  purposed  that  he 
should  be  a  missionary,  did  this  either  super- 
sede, hinder,  or  coerce  his  action  in  becoming 
a  Christian  ?  On  the  contrary,  the  evidence 
of  the  divine  will  in  this  regard  became  at 
length  effective  in  making  sure  his  calling  and 
election  to  that  work.  For  when  after  a  time 
the  zeal  and  warmth  of  his  first  purpose  had 
somewhat  abated,  the  fact  that  a  missionary 
then  in  this  country  who  chanced  to  hear  him 
preach,  singled  him  out  as  the  man  he  needed 
as  a  helper,  and  other  providential  circum- 
stances, shut  him  up  to  his  original  decision, 
made  him  feel  that  this  was  the  will  of  God, 


EFFECTUAL  CALLING.  267 

and  led  liira  to  give  all  diligence  to  cany  it 
into  eifect. 

Every  true  Christian  traces  his  present 
evidences  of  regeneration  and  his  hope  of 
final  salvation  to  the  grace  of  God  working  in 
hiin  through  the  trutk  "JSTot  by  works  of 
righteousness  which  we  have  done,  but  ac- 
cording to  his  mercy  he  saved  us,  by  the 
•  washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  "  Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us 
through  the  word  of  truth."  But  while  every 
Christian  thus  traces  his  hope  of  renewal  and 
salvation  to  the  grace  of  God,  no  one  will 
affirm  that  he  was  made  a  Christian  against 
his  will  I  and  therefore,  as  before  said,  there 
being  no  coercion  in  the  execution  of  the  pur- 
pose, there  can  be  no  hindrance  or  restraint 
upon  human  freedom  in  that  special  calling 
and  election  of  God  which  bring  his  truth 
and  spirit  to  operate  effectually  upon  the 
mind,  l^ay,  this  is  rather  an  encouragement 
to  diligent  and  earnest  working.  "  Work  out 
your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling, 
for  it  is  God  which  worketh  in  you  both  to 
will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure." 


268  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

When  Paul  was  about  to  be  sliipwrecked, 
an  angel  appeared  to  him  and  assured  him 
that  the  vessel  should  be  lost,  but  no  life  on 
board  of  her ;  soon  after,  the  vessel  struck, 
and  the  crew  attempted  to  desert  her;  but 
Paul,  perceiving  theii*  intention,  called  upon 
the  soldiers  to  stop  them,  crying,  "  Except 
these  abide  in  the  ship,  ye  cannot  be  saved." 
Each  declaration  was  absolute.  Paul  said  to 
the  captain,  "there  shall  be  no  loss  of  any 
man's  life  among  yoii,  but  of  the  ship.  For 
there  stood  by  me  this  night  the  angel  of  God, 
whose  I  am,  and  whom  I  serve,  saying,  '  Fear 
not,  Paul;  thou  must  be  brought  before 
Caesar ;  and  lo,  God  hath  given  thee  all  them 
that  sail  with  thee.'  Wherefore,  sirs,  be  of 
good  cheer — ^for  I  believe  God,  that  it  shall  be 
even  as  it  was  told  me." 

Paul  was  a  firm  believer  in  divine  sover- 
eignty. Before  this  he  had  written  his  Epistle 
to  the  Pomans,  in  which  he  insists  upon  that 
doctrine  with  the  highest  eloquence  and  earn- 
estness. Why  then  did  not  Paul  sit  down  at 
ease  and  say,  "God  will  take  care  of  us — I 
know  his  purpose  is  to  save  us  ?"    Instead  of 


THE   TKUE   ASSURANCE.  269 

this,  when  he  saw  the  sailors  letting  down  the 
boat  under  pretence  of  fixing  the  anchor,  bnt 
really  to  make  their  own  escape,  he  called  out, 
"Except  these  abide  in  the  ship  ye  cannot  be 
saved."  God's  purpose  was  to  be  made  sure  by 
the  agency  of  men  accustomed  to  manage  a  ship. 
2.  The  virtites  and  graces  of  the  Christian 
character  in  a  full  and  symmetrical  develop- 
ment^  give  to  their  possessor  the  assurance  of 
his  personal  call  and  election.  It  is  possible 
for,  the  Christian,  it  is  a  privilege  accorded  to 
every  Christian  if  he  will  but  attain  to  it,  to 
enjoy  the  full  assurance  of  his  personal  accept- 
ance in  the  Redeemer,  and  his  heirship  in  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints.  "  Being  justified  by 
faith  we  have  ^eace  with  God,  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ:  by  whom  also  we  have 
access  by  faith  into  this  grace  wherein  we 
stand,  and  rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of 
God."  ""We  have  received  the  Spirit  of  adop- 
tion, whereby  we  cry,  Abba,  Father.  Tlie 
Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit, 
that  we  are  the  children  of  God ;  and  if  child- 
ren, then  heirs ;  heirs  of  God,  and  joint-heirs 
with  Christ."  "  Let  us  not  love  in  word,  neither 
23* 


270  THE   CHKISTIAN   GRACES. 

in  tongue,  but  in  deed  and  in  truth.  And  here- 
by we  know  that  we  are  of  the  truth,  and  shall 
assure  our  hearts  before  him."  And  this  same 
apostle  Peter,  speaking  of  the  love  of  Christ- 
ians to  the  Saviour,  says :  "  "Whom  having  not 
seen,  ye  love ;  in  whom  though  now  ye  see 
him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice  with  joy  un- 
speakable and  full  of  glory ;  receiving  the  end 
of  your  faith,  even  the  salvation  of  your 
souls."  This  end  of  faith,  this  object  of  hope, 
is  already  appropriated  and  made  sure  to  the 
believing,  loving  soul. 

Now  this  peace,  this  joy,  this  strength,  this 
confidence,  are  brought  within  the  reach  of 
every  believer;  and  setting  aside  mere  ner- 
vous and  morbid  frames  which  require  healing 
rather  than  grace — ^by  so  much  as  any  believer 
lacks  of  this  peace  and  joy  and  inward  confi- 
dence, is  he  wanting  in  evidence  of  his  good 
estate.  Tliese  are  the  blessings  promised  to  a 
genuine  faith  and  a  Christian  walk ;  and  we 
can  appropriate  every  one  of  them  by  a  whole- 
hearted consecration  to  God,  by  an  honest  and 
consistent  Christian  life. 

No  amount  of  technical  Tinowledge  of  re- 


271 


ligion  can  certify  our  personal  interest  in 
Christ.  Judas,  in  common  witli  the  other 
apostles,  heard  every  discourse  uttered  by  our 
Lord ;  and  no  doubt  when  he  went  forth  on 
tnissionary  tours  with  his  brother  disciples,  he 
proclaimed  the  truth  just  as  he  had  heard  it 
from  Chri-st.  Evidently,  he  was  never  sus- 
pected by  his  brethren.  Yet  all  the  while 
Judas  carried  not  Christ  but  Satan  in  his  soul. 
"  He  hath  a  deviV 

]^o  rapture  of  occasional  experience  can  cer- 
tify our  calling  and  election.  Peter  was  with 
Christ  upon  the  mount  of  transfiguration,  and 
beheld  the  inexpressible  glory  of  the  divine ' 
Word  enveloping  the  human  teacher,  and  in 
the  rapture  of  that  vision  he  cried,  "  Lord  it  is 
good  to  be-  here,"  and  would  fain  have  built 
tabernacles  for  the  heavenly  visitants,  and 
have  lived  always  in  that  Elysium ;  but  when 
the  Master  said.  Come  down  from  these  illu- 
minated clouds  and  enter  the  shadow  of  Geth- 
semane  and  the  gloom  of  the  judgment-hall, 
and  tell  that  maid  what  thou  knowest  of  me, 
what  thou  carest  for  me,  he  trembles  like  an 
aspen  leaf,  and  says,  "I  know  not  the  man." 


272  THE   CIIEISTLVN   GRACES. 

There  stands  the  Master  whom  he  had  seen 
transformed  into  the  glory  of  the  celestial, 
whom  Moses  and  Elias  liad  worshipped  on  the 
Mount,  when  the  voice  of  the  Father  parting 
the  silver-cloud,  had  said,  "This  is  my  beloved 
Son,  hear  him ;"  there  stands  the  same  Jesus 
with  whom  he  had  desired  to  abide  in  his 
glory  ;  but  the  brow,  then  radiant  with  hea- 
venly light,  is  overshadowed  with  grief,  and 
the  shining  raiment  is  exchanged  for  the  garb 
of  a  criminal,  and  Peter  declares,  "I  never 
saw  the  man."  Ah !  of  what  worth  are  rap- 
turous visions  of  Christ  upon  the  mountain- 
top  when  there  is  no  spirit  to  confess  Christ  in 
the  common  walks  of  men  ?  It  is  easy  while 
with  Moses,  and  Elias,  and  a  choir  of  angels, 
to  say,  "  How  delightful,  how  glorious  ;"  but 
what  is  it  to  stand  amid  buifetings  and  curses, 
when  the  rabble  cry  "  Crucify  ?" 

Peter,  chastened,  humbled,  reproved,  re- 
stored, now  looks  for  other  evidences  of  love 
to  Christ.  "Give  diligence  to  make  your 
calling  and  election  sure — for  if  ye  do  these 
things,  ye  shall  never  fall."  What  bitter 
memories  did  that  word  fall  awaken  in  his 


THE   TRUE   EVIDENCE.  273 

own  soul — a  fall  from  such  heights  of  rapture, 
from  such  boasting  professions,  to  such  depths 
of  ignominy  and  sin.  He  would  fain  save  his 
brethren  from  such  sad  experience ;  "if  ye  do 
these  things  ye  shall  never  faliy  Do  what 
things  ?  Cultivate  the  graces  which  we  have 
now  discussed.  Rest  not  in  faith  alone ;  rely 
not  upon  doctrine  merely ;  seek  not  for  visions 
and  revelations,  and  vivid,  rapturous  expe- 
riences ;  if  these  come,  appropriate  them  with 
humility,  but  gain  the  assurance  of  your  call- 
ing by  your  own  growth  in  grace;  ''add  to 
your  faith.  Virtue ;  -  and  to  virtue.  Knowledge ; 
and  to  knowledge.  Temperance ;  and  to  tem- 
perance. Patience;  and  to  patience.  Godli- 
ness ;  and  to  godliness,  Brotherly-kindness ; 
and  to  brotherly-kindness.  Charity — ^for  if  ye 
do  these  things,  ye  shall  never  fall."  "  Do 
these,"  not  as  the  foundation  upon  which  you 
stand,  not  as  the  meritorious  ground  of  salva- 
tion ;  but  in  doing  them^  by  having  these 
graces  in  lively  growth  and  exercise,  you  have 
the  evidence  of  God's  calling  and  election 
which  is  your  assurance  of  final  perseverance 
and  salvation. 


274  THE   CHRISTIAN   GRACES. 

Your  hope  of  salvation  rests  in  God's  sover- 
eign grace.  Your  evidence  of  a  personal  in- 
terest in  that  grace  arises  from  the  possession 
and  development  of  these  virtues;  therefore 
give  diligence  to  get  your  calling  certified  by 
the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  in  your  life.  With  that 
certified  check  you  can  never  fail.  Every 
other  security  may  prove  worthless,  but  this 
never.  With  that  certificate  of  Christ's  work 
in  you,  you  shall  pass  the  scrutiny  of  the 
cherubim  with  flaming  sword  at  the  gate  of 
heaven ;  the  recording  angel  shall  open  the 
Lamb's  Book  of  Life  and  find  your  name 
there  registered ;  and  the  Master  shall  own  it 
before  his  Father,  saying,  "This  is  my  seal 
and  promise ;  this  is  the  fruit  of  my  grace  ; 
this  is  my  disciple ;"  and  ■ "  so  an  entrance 
shall  be  ministered  to  you  abundantly  into  the 
everlasting  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ." 

That  which  we  are  to  seek  after  is  not  tech- 
nically assurance,  but  virtues,  graces,  in  the 
heart  and  life — these  warrant  the  assurance, 
these  certify  the  election.  Assurance  is  not  a 
something  for  which  we  are  to  watch,  and 


THE  TRUE  ASSUEAJSTCE.  275 

when  we  tliink  we  have  it,  to  fold  it  to  our 
hearts  and  rest  content — that  is  enthusiasm, 
that  is  presumption.  Assurance  grows  with 
the  fruits  of  grace,  is  inseparable  from  these, 
is  a  dry  branch  without  these.  As  an  old 
divine  expresses  it,  "Assurance  makes  us  ac- 
tive and  lively  in  God's  service  ;  as  diligence 
begets  assurance,  so  assurance  begets  dili- 
gence. Assurance  will  not  breed  security  in 
the  soul,  but  industry.  Assurance  makes  us 
mount  up  to  heaven,  as  eagles,  in  holy  duties ; 
it  is  like  the  Spirit  in  Ezekiel's  wheels,  that 
moved  them,  and  lifted  them  up.  Faith 
makes  us  walk,  but  assurance  makes  us  run. 
Assurance  is  as  wings  to  the  bird :  as  weights 
to  the  clock,  to  set  all  the  wheels  of  obedience 
a-running."  * 

You  cannot  have  the  assurance  of  grace 
imless  you  have  the  grace  itself,  and  this  you 
can  test  and  know  by  its  fruits.  What  you 
want  is  not  more  hope,  more  vision,  but  more 
practical  virtue ;  more  self-training. 

3.    This  complete  Christiam^  character  at- 

*  Leighton. 


276  THE   CHEISllAN    GRACES. 

tained  in  life  assures  jpeace  and  triuiTvph  in 
deaths  a7id  a  joyful  entrance  into  eternal  life. 
As  good  Dr.  Doddridge  interprets  the  text, 
carrying  ont  the  figure  of  a  choir  of  graces 
before  referred*  to,  "  if  you  will  lead  on  the 
virtues  and  graces  here  enumerated  in  their 
beautiful  order,  those  graces  will  attend  you 
in  a  radiant  train  to  the  mansions  of  immortal 
glory  and  blessedness."  An  entrance  into  the 
everlasting  kingdom,  the  IN^ew  Jerusalem,  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints,  the  presence  and 
glory  of  Christ  and  of  the  Father — this  shall 
be  ministered  unto  you — ^furnished  by  grace ; 
and  furnished  richly,  amply,  with  a  free  hand, 
with  abundant  measure. 

At  the  convent  of  Mt.  Sinai,  the  monks, 
ever  watchful  against  their  enemies,  admit 
guests  one  by  one,  hoisting  them  by  a  basket 
into  a  lofty  window  through  the  wall;  but 
when  a  visitor  arrives  with  a  special  letter 
from  the  head  of  their  order  at  Cairo,  the 
huge  gates  of  the  convent  are  unbarred,  and 
the  cavalcade  ride  through  the  ample  portal, 
and  up  the  paved  court  where  the  monks 
are  drawn  up  in  order  to  welcome  the  guest. 


TRIUMPH   IN   DEATH.  277 

who  is  conducted  to  tlie  principal  cliamber, 
and  attended  with  every  mark  of  respect.  So 
there  are  Christians,  doubtless  true  believers, 
who  are  saved  so  as  bj  .fire;  who  are 
dragged  as  it  were  into  the  gate  of  heaven  as 
Christina  and  Mercy  were  dragged  in  at  the 
wicket-gate ;  who  never  cast  off  the  fear  of 
death  till  they  have  crossed  the  river ;  and 
who  exhibit  almost  nothing  of  peace  and 
hope,  much  less  of  triumph ;  but  if  we  give 
diligence  to  make  all  virtues  ours,  this  will 
give  assurance,  and  assurance  will  give  joy 
and  triumph,  for  we  are  confident^  saith  Paul, 
"  and  willing  rather  to  be  absent  from  tlie 
body,  and  to  be  present  with  the  Lord." 

He  who  matures  these  graces  in  life  shall 
have  victory  over  death.  He  shall  not  enter 
heaven  by  the  postern  gate ;  but  the  angels 
that  minister  around  his  dying  bed  shall 
attend  his  exultant  soul,  singing,  "Lift  up 
your  heads,  O  ye  gates,  and  receive  this 
trophy  of  the  Saviour's  love."  To  live  well  is 
to  die  happily.  To  have  all  graces  in  life  is 
to  insure  all  comforts  in  death.  If  for  me  to 
live  is  Christ,  to  die  is  gain. 
24 


278  THE   CHEISTIAN   GRACES. 

And  now,  brethren,  does  not  this  exhorta- 
tion of  the  apostle  search  ns  like  a  candle, 
pierce  lis  like  a  sword  ;  does  it  not  shame  ns 
at  the  meanness  of  our  attainments,  the  empti- 
ness of  onr  joys  ?  Are  you  suj'e  of  your  call- 
ing and  election?  Let  us  see  your  certificate. 
"  I  met  with  a  change  ten,  twenty  years  ago — 
and  had  very  peculiar  feelings  ?"  We  do  not 
wish  to  hear  of  that ; — show  us  your  present 
certificate.  "Ah — my  certificate — ^I. joined 
the  church  in  such  a  year."  That  is  not  to 
the  point.  Here  are  the  items ;  Faith,  Yirtue, 
Knowledge,  Temperance,  Patience,  Godli- 
ness, Brotherly-kindness,  Charity ; — ^liave  you 
grown  in  these  particular  graces  since  you 
professed  Christ  ?  Have  you  any  religion  be 
yond  family-prayers  and  church-going?  Have 
you  a  Godlinesss  that  withstands  temptation, 
that  is  sweet  and  patient  and .  humble  and 
kind  in  little  things  ?  Are  you  .  absorbed  in 
Christ's  work — so  given  to  it,  that  you  sub- 
ordinate all  things  to  this  ? 

John  Adams  in  his  old  age,  at  Quincy,  was 
visited  by  some  distinguished  foreigners,  who 
called  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  political 


BE   DILIGENT.  279 

hero  of  the  Eevolution ;  they  asked,  "  At  the 
beginning. of  the  fight   did   you   think  you 
should  succeed  ?"     "  Yes  j  I  knew  the  country 
would  go  through ;  but  I  expected  nothing 
but  ruin  and  death  for  my  family  and  myself." 
Tliere    was    patriotism    sacrificing    self    for 
country.     Are  you  so  committed  to  Christ, 
that  you  feel  and  know  his  cause  will  succeed, 
and  are  determimed  to  labor  for  that,  though 
you  and  yours  should  perish  in  the  work.     If 
you  are  redeemed  by  Christ  you  are  redeemed 
from  the  world.     A  quaint  writer  says  :  "As 
the  birds,  though  they  light  upon  the  ground 
to  pick  up  a  little  seed,  yet  immediately  they 
take  their  wings  and  fly  up  to  heaven  again ; 
so   the   redeemed  of  the  Lord,  though   they 
use  the  world  and  take  the  lawful  comforts 
of  it,  yet  their  hearts  are  presently  oif  these 
things,  and  they  ascend  to  heaven."    Do  you 
so  live  ?     Or  do  you  prefer  to  abandon  the 
free  air  of  heaven  and  the  trees  of  Paradise, 
to  sit  in  a  cage  because  this  is  made  gaudy? 
Oh,  soul  redeemed,  rise  and  soar  up  to  thy 
Maker's  glory,  singing  thy  Redeemer's  praise. 
Live  not  for  this  world,  for  "  seeing  that  all 


280  THE   CHRISTIAN    GRACES. 

these  things  shall  be  dissolved,  what  manner 
of  persons  ought  je  to  be  in  all  holy  con- 
versation and  godliness  ?    Be  diligent  that 

YE  MAY  be  found  OF  IIlM  IN  PEACE,  WITHOUT 
SPOT    AND   blameless."      AmEN. 


FINIS. 


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